Friday, September 26, 2008
2008 R&D 100 Winner
Revisions to high vacuum pump design typically proceed in an evolutionary fashion because of the high demands placed on existing design. The HiPace 80, HiPace 300, and HiPace 700 line of high vacuum turbopumps from Pfeiffer Vacuum, Asslar, Germany, represents a significant blend of computing advancements and mechanical revisions that produces across-the-board performance improvements. Altered drive electronics, cooling design, and new semiconductors have extended the lifetime of the pumps to 50,000 hours at maximum power. Pumps are now supplied with on-board memory chips. Ball bearings are made of a new material to save maintenance costs, and high gas throughputs and pumping speeds are achieved with an optimized rotor design. The result of these mechanical changes yields the lowest vibration level (0.006 m/s2 rms), highest pumping speed (220-260 l/s), and shortest run-up time (50 sec) in the turbopump class.
Technology
Vacuum turbopumps
Developer
Pfeiffer Vacuum
