Professional Documents
Culture Documents
mounted to the shaft and the piston is tion of the lubricant or ingestion of Hg absolute for rough industrial ap-
concentric to the cam. This arrange- process liquid. plications, while others are capable of
ment allows the piston to ride on the This pump employs a rotor concen- ultimate pressures from 0.1 to 0.0002
cam and rotate around the periphery tric with the shaft, with slots for ac- mm Hg abs for use in applications
of the pump housing (cylinder), form- ceptance of two or more vanes, provid- with higher vacuum requirements.
ing a void between the piston and ing the inherently balanced design. A vane pump that uses a once-
housing that alternates from maxi- The rotor-shaft assemblage is through oiling system is an alternative
mum to zero at top dead center. mounted eccentrically in the stator to those that recirculate oil. In the
The positioning of the eccentric cam cylinder to provide the necessary cres- once-through approach, oil flow is me-
on the shaft results in an imbalance. To cent-shaped volume for expansion and tered out in amounts just sufficient to
compensate, two or more such stages of compression, with the critical dimen- seal and lubricate the vanes to the
rotary components are placed on the sion being the rotor-to-stator clear- housing. Instead of being recycled, the
shaft, with each 180 deg out of phase ance between the suction and dis- oil is collected for disposal. The advan-
with the stage next to it. These stages charge porting at top dead center. The tage of this design is that any contam-
are normally arranged in parallel for clearance must be kept as small as ination of the oil by the process vapor
single-stage pumps or in series for com- possible to reduce gas slippage where is passed out of the pump and not al-
pound pumps (Figure 1). Single-stage the pressure differential is greatest. lowed to build up and cause additional
rotary piston pumps can provide pres- The use of multiple vanes in the problems. This design also avoids any
sures down to 0.005 mm Hg abs and ca- rotor allows the pumping volume to be increases in the operating pressure
pacities to 850 cfm; compound pumps, swept the same number of times in one due to the vapor pressure of residual
0.0002 mm Hg abs and 200 cfm. shaft rotation, providing a compact de- process vapors. The drawback is the
The geometric positioning of the pis- sign. The vanes can be spring-loaded, need for waste oil disposal, which is an
ton-cam-shaft assembly prevents the or more commonly, can rely on cen- environmental and cost issue.
piston from touching the cylinder trifugal force to make contact with the
wall, allowing a constant clearance to cylinder and seal off the gas pocket. Liquid ring pumps
be maintained at all times. Oil is used Contact pressure between the vane Liquid ring pumps employ one or two
to seal this gap between the piston and housing is high, resulting in signif- multiblade impellers concentrically
and cylinder, provide lubrication and icant frictional effects that increase in- mounted to the drive shaft. The im-
transfer heat throughout the rest of ternal localized temperatures, even in peller shaft assembly is eccentrically
the pump. the presence of oil, which provides lu- mounted in the pump housing, in such
Rotary vane. The advantage of the brication, sealing and cooling. a way that at top dead center the clear-
rotary vane pump is its inherently Various designs of vane pumps are ance between impeller blade tip and
well-balanced design. Its disadvan- available, typically with capacities to housing is at a minimum, and at bot-
tage is the sensitivity of its vanes to 1,000 cfm. Some are capable only of tom dead center the clearance is at a
sticking or breaking from deteriora- ultimate pressures from 15 to 0.5 mm maximum, resulting in a relatively
tion. Both employ a coolant system oxygen into the system through air
that prevents the coolant from con- leakage. In some cases, detonation ar-
tacting the process and causing conta- resters may be used. Liquid ring
mination, and both use mechanical pumps normally operate at low tem-
shaft seals for containment. peratures, well below the auto-igni-
Dry pumps are free of any liquid tion temperature of the materials, and
within the pumping chamber, so that gas compression occurs in a wetted en-
any process carryover is not contami- vironment where sparking or combus-
nated and can be returned to the tion is less likely to occur. Normally,
process. Also the lack of any sealing the sealant liquid can be selected with
liquid means that the dry pump poses this factor in mind.
no danger to contaminating the In many cases, water may be the
process on system upsets. Although preferred sealant. Inert gas or recy-
water is the most commonly used cled gas from discharge is used to pre-
sealant in liquid ring pumps, in many vent cavitation while avoiding the in-
applications, the process fluid can in- troduction of air.
stead serve as the sealant liquid, pro- The liquid ring pump is the pump
vided the vapor pressure is compatible best equipped for handling liquid in-
with the operating pressure. gestion. In fact, in many applications
In other situations, a compatible the condensate from a precondenser is
sealant liquid can be found that meets run directly into the liquid ring pump
the pump sealant requirements and or a liquid spray is used as a contact
will not be a problem for the process. condenser directly upstream of the
The solvent liquid is recirculated in a pump’s suction. Some dry pumps can
full recovery system that includes a handle small amounts of liquid with
gas-liquid separator tank at discharge the rotary screw pump being able to
and a water-cooled heat exchanger handle the most without hydraulically
(normally shell-and-tube) in the recir- locking.
culating line for cooling. In summary, both the liquid ring
For handling corrosive vapors, dry and rotary screw dry pumps offer ad-
pump manufacturers recommend vantages to the CPI. n
passing the vapors through the pump Edited by Deborah Hairston
without condensing, by maintaining
an elevated temperature at discharge References
through control of the cooling water 1. Van Atta, C.M., Vacuum Science and Engi-
neering, McGraw-Hill, New York, N.Y., 1965.
flow, as well as auto start-stop and 2. Vibert, P.D., Dry versus Oil Sealed Vacuum
seal inert gas purges. Some also offer Pumps for Vacuum Coaters, Soc. of Vacuum
Coaters 41st Annual Technical Conference
protective coatings. Makers of liquid Proceedings, ISSN 0737-5921, pp. 7–8, 1998.
ring pumps normally offer all-ferrous 3. Vibert, P.D., Mechanical Booster Vacuum
and all Type 316 stainless steel con- Pumps, Society of Vacuum Coaters 42nd An-
nual Technical Conference Proceedings,
struction as standard options, with ISSN 0737-5921, pp. 11–12, 1999.
some also offering construction in
Alloy 20 or Hastelloy. Author
Dry pumps can handle many flam- Phil Vibert is a senior engineer for Tuthill Vac-
uum & Blower Systems (4840 West Kearney
mable vapors, if the maximum gas Street, Springfield, MO 65801; Phone: 417-865-
8715; Email: pvibert@tuthill.com). His career
temperature is controlled below the with the company, including Kinney Vacuum,
auto-ignition temperature through spans more than 33 years. Involved in the de-
sign, application, operation, and troubleshooting
coolant usage. An inert gas cooling of all types of vacuum pumps and systems, he
stream is added during compression, has sized, selected, and designed thousands of
vacuum systems for the chemical process indus-
or an inert gas stream is added as a tries. Vibert, who holds a B.S. in physics from
diluent to avoid an explosive mixture Northeastern University (Boston, Mass.), has
authored several papers and technical publica-
while limiting the introduction of any tions in the field of vacuum pumps and systems.
adlinks.che.com/3647-27 ‹