Turbomolecular vacuum pumps

Abstract: Turbomolecular vacuum pumps having structures which provide increased pumping speed, increased discharge pressure and decreased operating power in comparison with prior art turbomolecular vacuum pumps. In a first embodiment, the stators (22) of one or more axial flow vacuum pumping stages in proximity to the exhaust port (16) of the vacuum pump have progressively lower conductance so that the bulk velocity of the gas being pumped is increased. In a second embodiment, one or more stages near the inlet port of the vacuum pump are provided with a peripheral channel to utilize the centrifugal component of the gas being pumped. In a third embodiment, one or more stages in the vacuum pump are molecular drag stages, each including a disk rotor. One or more pumping channels in the stator adjacent to the upper surface of the disk are connected in series with one or more pumping channels adjacent to the lower surface of the disk. In a fourth embodiment, one or more stages of the vacuum pump are regenerative stages, each including a regenerative impeller. Pumping channels in the upper and lower portions of the stator are connected in series. The stator channels can be provided with fixed, spaced-apart ribs for improved performance.

Description: Field of the Invention This invention relates to turbomolecular vacuum pumps according to the preamble of claim 1 and, more particularly, to turbomolecular vacuum pumps having structures which provide increased pumping speed, increased discharge pressure and decreased operating power in comparison with prior art turbomolecular vacuum pumps. Background of the Invention Conventional turbomolecular vacuum pumps include a housing having an inlet port, an interior chamber containing a plurality of axial pumping stages and an exhaust port. The exhaust port is typically attached to a roughing vacuum pump. Each axial pumping stage includes a stator having inclined blades and a rotor having inclined blades. The rotor and stator blades are inclined in opposite directions. The rotor blades are rotated at high speed to provide pumping of gases between the inlet port and the exhaust port. A typical turbomolecular vacuum pump includes nine to twelve axial pumping stages, arranged in two or three stages for low pressure, medium pressure and high pressure as taught by US-A- 3,644,051 (corresponding to DE-A- 2 046 693) and DE-U- 7 237 362. However, the arrangement of several rotor/stator units in a working group having the same configuration creates a discontinuous fluid flow from one stage to the following resulting in low compression ratios. Variations of the conventional turbomolecular vacuum pump are known in the prior art. In one prior art vacuum pump, a cylinder having helical grooves, which operates as a molecular drag stage, is added near the exhaust port. In another prior art configuration, one or more of the axial pumping stages are replaced with disks that rotate at high speed and function as molecular drag stages. A disk which has radial ribs at its outer periphery and which functions as a regenerative centrifugal impeller is disclosed in the prior art. Turbomolecular vacuum pumps utilizing molecular drag disks and regenerative impellers are disclosed in DE-A- 3,919,529, published January 18, 1990. While prior art turbomolecular vacuum pumps have generally satisfactory performance under a variety of conditions, it is desirable to provide turbomolecular vacuum pumps having improved performance. In particular, it is desirable to increase the compression ratio so that such pumps can discharge to atmospheric pressure or to a pressure near atmospheric pressure. In addition, it is desirable to provide turbomolecular vacuum pumps having increased pumping speed and decreased operating power in comparison with prior art pumps. It is a general object of the present invention to provide improved turbomolecular vacuum pumps. It is another object of the present invention to provide turbomolecular vacuum pumps capable of discharging to relatively high pressure levels. It is another object of the present invention to provide turbomolecular vacuum pumps having relatively high pumping speeds. It is a further object of the present invention to provide turbomolecular vacuum pumps having relatively low operating power. It is a further object of the present invention to provide turbomolecular vacuum pumps having high compression ratios for light gases. It is still another object of the present invention to provide turbomolecular vacuum pumps which are easy to manufacture and which are relatively low in cost. Summary of the Invention These and other objects and advantages are achieved in accordance with the present invention by a turbomolecular vacuum pump according to claim 1. The low conductance stators preferably comprise a solid member having spaced-apart openings to permit gas flow. The openings can be defined by inclined blades. Alternatively, the low conductance stators can comprise a circular plate having spaced-apart openings near its periphery. In a preferred embodiment, a group of low conductance stators in proximity to the exhaust port has progressively lower conductance with decreasing distance from the exhaust port. Improved vacuum pumping is achieved by structuring one or more of the vacuum pumping stages that are located in proximity to the exhaust port for reduced pumping speed and increased compression ratio relative to the vacuum pumping stages located in proximity to the inlet port. Brief Description of the Drawings For better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further objects, advantages and capabilities thereof, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which are incorporated herein by reference and in which: Fig. 1 is a partially broken away, perspective view of a turbomolecular vacuum pump in accordance with the present invention, wherein the stators have progressively lower conductance; Fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional representation of a turbomolecular vacuum pump similar to the pump of Fig. 1 but with more stages; Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the stators for three stages of the vacuum pump of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of a low conductance stator; Fig. 5 is a graph showing compression ratio, pumping speed and input power of the turbomolecular vacuum pump of the present invention for each vacuum pumping stage; and Fig. 6 is a graph of throughput of the turbomolecular vacuum pump of the present invention as a function of inlet pressure. Detailed Description of the Invention A turbomolecular vacuum pump in accordance with the present invention is shown in Fig. 1. A housing 10 defines an interior chamber 12 having an inlet port 14 and an exhaust port 16. The housing 10 includes a vacuum flange 18 for sealing of inlet port 14 to a vacuum chamber (not shown) to be evacuated. The exhaust port 16 is typically connected to a backing vacuum pump (not shown). In cases where the turbomolecular vacuum pump is capable of exhausting to atmospheric pressure, a backing pump is not required. Located within chamber 12 is a plurality of axial flow vacuum pumping stages. Each of the vacuum pumping stages includes a rotor 20 and a stator 22. The embodiment of Fig. 1 includes eight stages. It will be understood that a different number of stages can be utilized depending on the vacuum pumping requirements. Typically, turbomolecular vacuum pumps have about nine to twelve stages. Each rotor 20 includes a central hub 24 attached to a shaft 26. Inclined blades 28 extend outwardly from the hub 24 around its periphery. Typically, all of the rotors have the same number of inclined blades, although the angle and width of the inclined blades may vary from stage to stage. The shaft 26 is rotated at high speed by a motor located in a housing 27 in a direction indicated by arrow 29 in Fig. 1. The gas molecules are directed generally axially by each vacuum pumping stage from the inlet port 14 to the exhaust port 16. The stators have different structures in different stages. Specifically, one or more stators in proximity to inlet port 14 have a conventional structure with relatively high conductance. In the embodiment of Fig. 1, two stages in proximity to inlet port 14 have stators with relatively high conductance. The high conductance stators 22, as best shown in Fig. 3, include inclined blades 30 which extend inwardly from a circular spacer 32 to a hub 34. The hub 34 has an opening 36 for a shaft 26 but does not contact shaft 26. In the first two stages of the vacuum pump in proximity to inlet port 14, the stators 22 usually have the same number of inclined blades as the rotor 20. The blades of the rotor and the blades of the stator are inclined in opposite directions. Starting with the third stage from inlet port 14 and progressing toward exhaust port 16, stators 40, 42, 44, 46 and 48 have progressively lower conductance than the high conductance stators 22. Thus, the stators progress from medium conductance in the middle of the pump to low conductance near exhaust port 16. The stators 40, 42, 44, 46 and 48 can have any convenient structure which provides the desired conductance. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, each medium and low conductance stator is fabricated as a circular plate having openings. The structure of stators 42 and 48 is shown in Fig. 3. In stator 42, a circular stator plate 50 is provided with inclined openings 52, 54, etc., which simulate the openings between inclined blades. The stator 42 has eight openings, and stator 48 has only two openings 56 and 57. In the embodiment illustrated, the conductance of stators 40, 42, 44, 46 and 48 is progressively reduced toward exhaust port 16 by progressively reducing the number of openings in the stator plates. It will be understood that other structures can be utilized for providing reduced conductance stators. For example, the inclined openings 54 in stator plate 50 can be replaced with holes that are drilled near the outer periphery of stator plate 50. The number and/or size of the openings in stator plate 50 can be varied to provide the required conductance. The stators 22, 42 and 48 illustrated in Fig. 3 are typically machined from a solid disk. An alternate stator construction is illustrated in Fig. 4. A stator 58 includes a thin metal plate 60 wherein a central opening 62 and louvers 64 are formed by stamping. A circular spacer 66 is attached to the outer periphery of plate 60. A schematic representation of a turbomolecular vacuum pump similar to the pump of Fig. 1 but with more stages is shown in Fig. 2. Rotors 70-80 all include as usual the same number of inclined blades 82. Stators 86 and 87 in the first two stages near the inlet port have conventional inclined blades 83. Stators 88-95 have progressively lower conductance with decreasing distance from exhaust port 84. It will be understood that the number of stators having reduced conductance can be varied. Preferably, stators between about the midpoint of the vacuum pump and the exhaust port have lower conductance than the stators near the inlet port. The configuration of the stators shown in Figs. 1-4 is based on the fact that the bulk velocity of the gas being pumped is reduced at the exhaust port 16 in proportion to the compression ratio of the pump. The flow in the last two or three stages of a conventional prior art turbomolecular vacuum pump is essentially stagnant. Under such conditions, the power of the motor is wasted in sloshing the stagnant gas in and out of the stators. By providing progressively lower conductance stators in proximity to the exhaust port 16, the bulk velocity is maintained, the pressure ratio is increased and the motor power is reduced. Another reason for increasing the bulk velocity in the higher pressure stages of the vacuum pump is that the back diffusion of light gases, such as hydrogen and helium, is decreased. In conventional turbomolecular vacuum pumps, hydrogen has an easy path for back diffusion across the entire cross-sectional area of the bladed stages. However, in the turbomolecular vacuum pump shown in Fig. 1, back diffusion must occur against the stream of pumped gas (usually water vapor and air) which has a substantial forward velocity toward the exhaust port 16. Furthermore, back diffusion must occur through the small holes in each stator which may have 100 times lower cross-sectional area than prior art stators. The operating characteristics of turbomolecular vacuum pumps in accordance with the present invention are illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. In Fig. 5, the pumping speed, compression ratio and input power of each stage in a multistage pump are plotted. The different stages of the pump are plotted on the horizontal axis, with high vacuum stages at the left and low vacuum stages at the right. Curve 550 represents the compression ratio and indicates that a low compression ratio is desired near the inlet port of the pump. The compression ratio reaches a maximum near the middle of the pump and decreases near the exhaust port. In general, a high compression ratio is easy to achieve in molecular flow but is difficult to achieve in viscous flow. Near the pump inlet port, the compression ratio is intentionally made low in order to obtain high pumping speed. After the gas being pumped has been densified, a higher compression ratio and a lower pumping speed are desired. The pumping speed is indicated by curve 552. A relatively high compression ratio is obtained at the higher pressures near the pump outlet by minimizing leakage, using the techniques described above, and by increasing the pump power. High pumping speed is not required near the exhaust port because the gas is densified in this region. The pump input power is indicated by curve 554. At low pressures, required power is required mainly to overcome bearing friction. At higher pressure levels, gas friction and compression power add to the power consumed by the pump. In general, the operating point of each stage is individually selected in accordance with the present invention. In Fig. 6, the throughput of the turbomolecular vacuum pump is plotted as a function of inlet pressure. The throughput is indicated by curve 560. The point at which the throughput becomes constant is selected as a function of maximum design mass flow and maximum design power. While there have been shown and described what are at present considered the preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims: A turbomolecular vacuum pump comprising: a housing (10) having an inlet port (14) and an exhaust port (16,84), a plurality of axial flow vacuum pumping stages located within said housing (10) and disposed between said inlet port (14) and said exhaust port (16,84), each of said vacuum pumping stages including a rotor (20;70-80) and a stator (22,40-48;86-95), each rotor having inclined blades (28,82) such that gas is pumped from said inlet port to said exhaust port, characterized by the stators (22,40-48; 86-95) each having a different conductance which varies from one stage to the other in relation to the distance from said exhaust port (16,84), wherein one or more relatively high conductance stators (22; 86,87) being located in proximity to said inlet port (14) and one or more relatively low conductance stators (40-48;88-95) located in proximity to said exhaust port (16,84) having lower conductance than said high conductance stators (22;86,87). A turbomolecular vacuum pump as defined in claim 1 wherein said low conductance stators (40-48;88-95) comprise a solid member (50,60) having spaced-apart openings (52,54,56,57) to permit gas flow. A turbomolecular vacuum pump as defined in claim 2 wherein said openings (52,54,56,57) are defined by inclined blades. A turbomolecular vacuum pump as defined in claim 1 wherein said low conductance stators (40-48) comprise a group of low conductance stators having progressively lower conductance with decreasing distance from said exhaust port (16). A turbomolecular vacuum pump as defined in claim 4 wherein each of said low conductance stators (40-48) comprises a circular plate (50) having spaced-apart openings (52,54,56,57) near its periphery. A turbomolecular vacuum pump as defined in one of claims 2 to 5 wherein the number and/or size of said openings (52,54,56,57) diminishes with decreasing distance from said exhaust port (16).

Inventors: HABLANIAN MARSBED, HABLANIAN, MARSBED
Applicants: VARIAN ASSOCIATES, VARIAN ASSOCIATES, INC.
Application year: 1993
Main classification: F04D19
IPC codes: F04D19, F04D17, F04D23, F04D29, F04D1