US3101169A - High vacuum chamber - Google Patents

High vacuum chamber Download PDF

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Publication number
US3101169A
US3101169A US851878A US85187859A US3101169A US 3101169 A US3101169 A US 3101169A US 851878 A US851878 A US 851878A US 85187859 A US85187859 A US 85187859A US 3101169 A US3101169 A US 3101169A
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
chamber
pumping
pumps
vacuum
gas
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
US851878A
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English (en)
Inventor
Jr Hugh R Smith
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Stauffer Chemical Co
Original Assignee
Stauffer Chemical Co
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Stauffer Chemical Co filed Critical Stauffer Chemical Co
Priority to US851878A priority Critical patent/US3101169A/en
Priority to LU39383D priority patent/LU39383A1/xx
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of US3101169A publication Critical patent/US3101169A/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
    • H01J41/00—Discharge tubes for measuring pressure of introduced gas or for detecting presence of gas; Discharge tubes for evacuation by diffusion of ions
    • H01J41/12—Discharge tubes for evacuating by diffusion of ions, e.g. ion pumps, getter ion pumps
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C22—METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
    • C22B—PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS; PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS
    • C22B9/00—General processes of refining or remelting of metals; Apparatus for electroslag or arc remelting of metals
    • C22B9/16—Remelting metals
    • C22B9/22—Remelting metals with heating by wave energy or particle radiation
    • C22B9/228—Remelting metals with heating by wave energy or particle radiation by particle radiation, e.g. electron beams
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
    • F04F—PUMPING OF FLUID BY DIRECT CONTACT OF ANOTHER FLUID OR BY USING INERTIA OF FLUID TO BE PUMPED; SIPHONS
    • F04F9/00—Diffusion pumps
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F27—FURNACES; KILNS; OVENS; RETORTS
    • F27B—FURNACES, KILNS, OVENS, OR RETORTS IN GENERAL; OPEN SINTERING OR LIKE APPARATUS
    • F27B5/00—Muffle furnaces; Retort furnaces; Other furnaces in which the charge is held completely isolated
    • F27B5/04—Muffle furnaces; Retort furnaces; Other furnaces in which the charge is held completely isolated adapted for treating the charge in vacuum or special atmosphere

Definitions

  • the present invention relates in general to an improved pumping geometry for vacuum chambers, and more particularly to a chamber structure having maximized pumping area defining the chamber for attaining high pumping speeds to maintain a high vacuum therein.
  • the present invention provides a chamber geometry highly suited to the establishment of very large pumping speeds whereby a chamber volume of relatively limited size may be maintained at a very low pressure despite sporadic bursts of gas from materials processed therein.
  • a chamber structure highly suited for a furnace chamber to be used in electron-beam processing of metals in vacuum is herein provided with a maximized defining area which is available for the pumping of gas.
  • the present invention provides a chamber which is itself defined by pump inlets. attain a pumping area that is as large as percent of the total wall area of a chamber to be evacuated.
  • It an object of the present invention to provide an improved geometry for maximized evacuation of suc chamber.
  • FIG. 1 is a plan view of a furnace chamber with the top thereof removed.
  • FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a furnace chamber taken in the plane 22 of FIG. 1.
  • the present invention in 'ef provides a vacuum cham ber structure including a pumping wall in large part defining the chamber.
  • This pumping wall preferably extends about the chamber and is [formed of a plurality of pumps having a high ratio of inlet openings to physical structure at the inlet end so that the wall is mainly composed of pumping area.
  • a maximized pumping area for the chamber is herein attained by the utilization of pumps having optimized inlet openings.
  • strip pumps of quite simple and straightforward construction and which include but a minimum of structural elements tending to restrict the pump inlet. These pumps are found to be readily combined into a multiple pumping unit that is admirably suited to define a chamber or the like that is intended to be evacuated.
  • the present invention provides a maximum pumping speed for such chamber to thereby most efiiciently andrapidly remove gases which may be evolved in such chamber.
  • the geometry of the present invention is admirably suited to the rapid removal of large quantities of gas from a very limited volume. It is possible in accordance herewith to locate an exteremely large pumping area immediately adjacent and surrounding a region wherein gases may be evolved so that substantially no delay results between the evolution of gas and the removal of same trom the region of interest. In this manner, it is possible to attain a very substantial vacuum within a region wherein gases are being evolved and also to maintain this substantial vacuum without pressure variations of substantialmagnitude therein.
  • the very substantial pumping speed which is realized by the present invention and the immediate proximity of the pumping area to the region of interest herein provides for the immediate removal of such gases to thereby maintain within the region a very substantial vacuum.
  • a furnace chamber 11 illustrated in plan view in FIG. 1 and containing, for example, a mold 12 into which melted metal is adapted to flow during electronbeam casting of same.
  • This chamber 11 is desired to be mainftained at a high vacuum, as of the order of 0.01 micron pressure.
  • a substantial quantity of gas may be evolved within the chamber. This gas must thus be very rapidly removed in order to maintain a substantial vacuum in the turnace chamber.
  • the chamber 11 may be defined at the bottom thereof by a solid wall v14- and at the top thereof by a similar wall 16 with the upstanding portion of the chamber between this top and bottom being almost entirely defined by pumping area.
  • strip jet pumps 17 to 28 which form a pumping wall of the chamher.
  • the term strip pump will be seen to identify the physical structure of the pumping means, inasmuch as same include elongated strips.
  • the structure of the pump 17, ctor example includes a pair of vertical strips i 3 1 and 32 extending upward from and in communication with a boiler, or the like, 33.
  • Each of the upstanding strips 311 and 32 consists of a hollow member adapted to conduct a pumping medium such as a vapor from the boiler 83, and each is provided with slots along the trailing edges of the strip through which such pumping medium is forced.
  • strip slots are oriented so that the pumping medium, such as a vapor, will escape from the strips under pressure generally rearwardly of the strip, as indicated by the arrows '34 in FIG. 1.
  • the high velocity vapor flow as is established by the escape of pumping medium from the strips 31 and 3 2, will be seen to operate to entrap or entrain gas molecules in the vicinity of the strips to thereby move same to the rearof the pump Whereat same may be exhausted.
  • the strips 31 and 32 are preferably formed of a very small crosssection so as to occupy a of volume while yet establishing a relatively large flow of vapor or the like to accomplish maximum pumping.
  • Suitable connections to the boiler 36 serve to produce the vapor, or the like, employed as the pumping medium in these pumps, as, for example, by the heating of a liquid therein.
  • the chamber 11 of the present invention is defined by the plurality of pumps -1728 with common radial walls 37-48 being provided about the circumference of the chamber 11 between the strips or the separate pumps. These walls 37-48 are vertically disposed in general parallelism with the strips of the individual pumps and serve to separate the adjacent pumps. The walls are also preferably disposed radially of the chamber 11 about same with an exterionwall 49 being disposed about the outer circumference of these radial walls in attachment .with the chamber top 116 and bottom 14 to thereby complete the chamber structure. I
  • the wall about the chamber lrl is thus substantially defined by pumping area between the front strip of each of the strip pumps and the edges of the radial walls disposed between the separate pumps.
  • the physical structure of the rear strip of each of the pumps is not particularly critical in the present instance inasmuch as same does not limit the inlet area to the pumps. It is possible in accordance with the present invention to provide a chamber structure wherein the upstanding walls thereof are composed almost entirely of pumping area rather than physical structure.
  • vacuum chambers wherein the periph eral wall is composed of percent pumping area.
  • Such a vacuum chamber has further been employed as a furnace chamber for electron-beam bombardment metal purification wherein a high vacuum is requisite to proper completion of the purification reaction.
  • a material improvement in casting and purification reactions of this type have been realized with the vacuum chamber of the present invention inasmuch as it has been possible to maintain a pressure of the order of 0.0 1 to 0.1 micron of pressurein a furnace wherein commercially feasible melting rates are attained.
  • Such a furnace chamber provides a pumping speed of the order of hundreds of thousands of liters per second, so that greatly increased melting rates are possible while yet preventing gas bursts by the extremely rapid removal of gases evolved during the processing.
  • the present invention operates to prevent pressure excursions from the evolution of gas within the chamber by eliminating the great majority of structural members against which gas molecules may impinge.
  • the present invention provides a maximum pump inlet area in closely spaced relation to the particular region or volume desired to be evacuated and maintained at high vacuum. Consequently, the present invention overcomes certain serious limitations of the prior art and provides for a substantial advancement in the field of vacuum pumping, particularly as same is related to such processes and apparatuses as suffer from the evolution of gas within evacuated regions.
  • An improved vacuum chamber comprising a plurality of vacuum pumps disposed about a closed path and having inlet apertures the outline structures of which being in contiguous array defining a wall of said chamber, and additional walls engaging the outline structures of said pump inlets at the ends thereof for completing enclosure of said chamber which is thus surrounded by said pumps and adapted to be maintained at a vacuum even during evolution of gas within the chamber.
  • An improved vacuum chamber comprising a plurality of strip jet pumps disposed in side-by-side relation about a closed path to define a chamber wall, said pumps each having a maximized inlet area'with respect to physical structure at one end so that the structural outlines thereof define said chamber Wall substantially consisting of the aggregate of the structural outlines of the pump inlet areas, and means including a top and a bottom sealingly engaging said pumps at the ends thereof to close said chamber, said pump inlets extending from the top to the bottom.
  • An improved furnace chamber comprising top and bottom walls connected by a circumferential vacuum communicating Wall, a plurality of strip jet pumps each including at least one thin elongated strip having rearwardly directed slots longitudinally thereof and means forcing a pumping fluid medium into said strips and out of said slots to establish a pumping action, said pumps being disposed contiguously between said top 1 taining 11 high vacuum during the evolution of gas therein and comprising a plurality of thin radial walls disposed about the circumference of a closed path defining the peripheral boundary of said chamber, at least one source of pumping fluid medium, a plurality of thin elongated strips disposed parallel to said radial walls with at least one strip between each of the adjacent walls, said strips having slots longitudinally thereof along trailing edges thereof with said slots directed outwardly of said chamber and being connected to said source of pumping fluid medium whereby the latter is forcibly ejected from said strips generally outwardly of said chamber, and means including top and bottom walls engaging said radial walls at opposite ends thereof for closing said chamber
  • An improved structure for a circular vacuum chamber comprising a plurality of vertically elongated jet vacuum pumps each including a. boiler with at least one vertical st-rip communicating therewith, said strip having a thin, hollow cross-section with a curved leading edge and slots along both sides of the trailing edge whereby pumping fluid medium from said boiler escapes rearwardly from said strips, top and bottom walls defining said chamber, means mounting said pumps about the periphery of said walls with the leading edge of said strips facing the chamber, and only thin, radial walls forming walls of said pumps and extending between said top and bot-tom walls and separating said strips circumferentially of the chamber, whereby the upright peripheral wall of the chamber is defined by said pumps with a maximized pumpin area about the chamber.
  • An improved vacuum chamber comprising top and bottom walls, and a peripheral vacuum communicating wall connecting said top and bottom Walls and including a plurality of contiguous vacuum pumps having inlet openings of maximized dimension relative to structural area thereof extending between said top and bottom Walls, with said inlet openings being directed inwardly with respect to the vacuum communicating Wall to thereby .provide for maximum pumping speed from the said chamber so defined.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Plasma & Fusion (AREA)
  • Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Toxicology (AREA)
  • Metallurgy (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Compressors, Vaccum Pumps And Other Relevant Systems (AREA)
US851878A 1959-11-09 1959-11-09 High vacuum chamber Expired - Lifetime US3101169A (en)

Priority Applications (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US851878A US3101169A (en) 1959-11-09 1959-11-09 High vacuum chamber
LU39383D LU39383A1 (US20030220297A1-20031127-C00009.png) 1959-11-09 1960-11-08

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US851878A US3101169A (en) 1959-11-09 1959-11-09 High vacuum chamber

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US3101169A true US3101169A (en) 1963-08-20

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LU (1) LU39383A1 (US20030220297A1-20031127-C00009.png)

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3450336A (en) * 1967-11-08 1969-06-17 Air Reduction Vacuum diffusion pump
US3463897A (en) * 1967-04-17 1969-08-26 Rohr Corp Multiple diffusion pump array for improved statistical pumping of vacuum work chamber
US3485998A (en) * 1967-06-29 1969-12-23 Rohr Corp Adaptor type electron beam welding apparatus
US5810563A (en) * 1992-08-06 1998-09-22 Volkmann; Thilo Ejector pump having flow directing profiles

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE1050958B (US20030220297A1-20031127-C00009.png) *
US2691481A (en) * 1951-06-19 1954-10-12 Kenneth M Simpson Vacuum pumping apparatus
US2819011A (en) * 1950-06-19 1958-01-07 Winkler Otto High vacuum diffusion pump

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE1050958B (US20030220297A1-20031127-C00009.png) *
US2819011A (en) * 1950-06-19 1958-01-07 Winkler Otto High vacuum diffusion pump
US2691481A (en) * 1951-06-19 1954-10-12 Kenneth M Simpson Vacuum pumping apparatus

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3463897A (en) * 1967-04-17 1969-08-26 Rohr Corp Multiple diffusion pump array for improved statistical pumping of vacuum work chamber
US3485998A (en) * 1967-06-29 1969-12-23 Rohr Corp Adaptor type electron beam welding apparatus
US3450336A (en) * 1967-11-08 1969-06-17 Air Reduction Vacuum diffusion pump
US5810563A (en) * 1992-08-06 1998-09-22 Volkmann; Thilo Ejector pump having flow directing profiles

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
LU39383A1 (US20030220297A1-20031127-C00009.png) 1961-01-09

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