Introduction: Vacuum terminology has evolved over time.  In order to describe what you are looking for, it is helpful to have a guide that describes what different terms mean so people from different industries can communicate with one another.  We'll start from the beginning and focus on vacuum measurement and control.

Topics: Researcher topics

Unexpected sensor failures, breakage and contamination happens to all of us. Hopefully you have a spare on hand when a sensor breaks in the field. You quickly switch out your vacuum tubes and proceed without hesitation. Unfortunately it's rarely that easy - there are small electrical differences between each sensor; thus, your backup sensors will produce different readings on different vacuum gauges without calibration.   Unfortunately, factory recalibration isn't always an option at the time. This should raise some logical questions with technicians; how reliable and accurate are the readings produced by backup vacuum tubes? We set out to answer this question by performing an experiment in the DigiVac shop. 

Topics: Calibration, Accuracy, Researcher topics, Contamination

When the general public thinks about distillation, they are thinking moonshine or whiskey. In an industrial context, however, fractional distillation is a process by which vapor from a heated liquid mixture is condensed as it rises through a vertical column. Vacuum is a key component of this process. There are 3 key benefits

Topics: Manufacturing, Researcher topics

Ever wondered if your field service technicians are completing and/or properly logging their pump-downs? Have other managers witnessed this occurrence? How worried should you be? Get these answers and more...

Topics: Researcher topics, Transformers

In the manufacturing industry, it is common practice to manually turn valves to achieve a ramp rate that ensures the material of interest is not sucked out.  Consistent process control is critical; if manual, this can be very difficult to do accurately

Topics: Manufacturing, Researcher topics

A custom vacuum solution approach starts with a customer who has an engineering challenge in a specific, unique environment. By going to an OEM with a strong team of engineers, a customer can often get free advice initially, and, ultimately, the solution s/he needs. Often, though, research and product design engineers wrestle with an engineering challenge longer than necessary, which can often be costly in terms of system failure, downtime and loss of productivity. Why wait? 

Topics: Researcher topics, Custom Vacuum Solutions

Oil backstreaming can occur in the event of a power outage when oil from the rotary vane pump backs up through the forelines into the vacuum chamber of the turbo pump. In some applications, minor backstreaming has no impact; in others, where the purity of materials is critical, backstreaming cannot be tolerated. It is advantageous in high vacuum systems to include automatic interlocks to avoid the effects of backstreaming and contamination of the turbopump. This can happen during a power outage or other system failure. Many high vacuum systems do not have built in automatic protection mechanisms. If everything works fine, then there are no worries. It’s when unexpected events happen that a “do nothing” approach could cost time and money.

Topics: Researcher topics, Backstreaming