Two stage vacuum pump

This invention relates to mechanical rotary vacuum pumps and, more particularly, to improvements in the general operating parameters for such pumps.

Rotary vacuum pumps of the type having a rotor mounted for rotation in a stator body and being offset in relation to the stator bore such that two blades contained in, and slideable within, diametrically opposed slots in the rotor can cause gas entering the space between the stator and the rotor to be compressed and expelled into a pump outlet.

A typical arrangement in known pumps is shown schematically in Figure 1 in the form of four vertical sections through the pump at four different phases thereof (induction, isolation, compression and exhaust). There is shown a stator body 1' having a substantially cylindrical bore within which is eccentrically mounted a rotor 2' for rotation therein about its centre line, ie the stator bore is offset in relation to the rotor with the rotor axis being the principal axis of the pump.

The rotor has two diametrically opposed slots within which are situated two blades 3',4' which can slide radially within the slots and are urged outwardly by means of a spring 5' such that the tips 6',7' of the blades 3',4' respectively are in contact with the stator wall at all times.

The stator body 1' has an inlet 8' to the bore and an outlet 9' therefrom, the outlet 9' also having a one-way exhaust valve 10'.

The mechanism is generally lubricated by oil 11' contained in the valve body 12' in the form of a reservoir, small amounts of which are pumped into the pump interior to form a thin oil filter between the working components before being ejected back into the reservoir through the exhaust valve 10' together with the pumped gas.

Such pumps are typically provided as either a single stage version in which a single rotor is employed or a two-stage version in which a first (high vacuum) stage is backed by a second (low vacuum) stage with the exhaust gases from the first stage being directed, normally via a one-way valve, to the second stage. Generally, the capacity of the high vacuum stage is substantially higher than that of the low vacuum stage, for example by a factor of 4:1.

One stage and two stage pumps are known to possess different operating characteristics. For example, currently available one stage pumps are generally known to possess the ability to handle exhaust stream having a higher vapour content and to have a high throughput. Currently available two-stage pumps, although being able to achieve lower pressures, generally possess inferior vapour handling characteristics and have a lower throughput overall.

Ballasting of the pumps in question is a well-documented technique which enables the pump to cope with a certain amount of vapour without contamination of the pump oil. A gas ballast facility allows atmospheric air (a dry or inert gas can alternatively be used) to be admitted to the pump chamber during the compression stage of the rotating blades. This increases the proportion of non-condensable gas in the pump and consequently the partial pressure of the vapour being pumped at the exhaust stage of the pump does not exceed its saturated vapour pressure; the vapour can therefore be discharged without condensing.

Known two-stage pumps - for example those described in US Patent Specification No. 4 268 230 - tend to have the facility to be ballasted only in the low-vacuum stage as ballasting of the high-vacuum stage can jeopardise the vacuum in the system being evacuated. Equally, the injection of new lubricating oil is also supplied only to the low-vacuum stage. Such ballasting and lubricating features lead, however, to the performance characteristics described above.

In certain circumstances, it would be desirable to provide a two stage pump having as many of the beneficial characteristics as possible of both one and two-stage pumps.

The invention is concerned with the provision of a two-stage rotary vacuum pump which includes certain feature to enable it selectively to be operated with differing operating characteristics.

In accordance with the invention, there is provided a rotary vacuum pump having a low vacuum stage and a high vacuum stage, each stage including a stator body having a bore and a rotor mounted eccentrically in the bore to form a cavity between the stator body and the rotor, the rotor of each stage having two vanes slideably positioned in diametrically opposed slots in the rotor which in use of the pump are substantially in contact with an inner wall of the stator body during rotation of the rotor, and the stator body of each stage having an inlet and an outlet to allow, in use of the pump, fluid being pumped to enter into and be expelled from the cavity by means of the rotating vanes, and wherein:

• i) means are provided to enable oil to be injected in to the low vacuum stage
• ii) means are provided to introduce ballast gas in to the low vacuum stage

Although it is known from JP-A-4 036 091 to provide means to feed oil to the high vacuum stage of a two stage pump, this is effected via a valve which is operated only by means of a direct reading of pressure at the pump inlet. As such, there are no disclosures therein of the switch means to allow for a number of settings for the supply of predetermined flows of oil nor to the selection of discrete settings for predetermined ballast gas flow rates to the low vacuum stage.

Generally, extra oil to the high vacuum stage is preferred when there is a continuous high throughput of gas (being pumped), when there is a contaminated gas (eg. carrying solid particles) or when it is required to have a rapid cleansing of the oil.

Ideally the ballast gas flow rate is at least 15% of the pump capacity, most preferably at least 20% or even 30% or higher.

Generally, the provision of ballast gas to the high vacuum stage is not required and may be detrimental. However, the relatively large size of the low vacuum stage coupled with an ability to inject, selectively, oil in to the high vacuum stage enable a range of operating characteristics to be achieved.

Preferably, a facility to introduce ballast gas to the low vacuum stage in different amounts is provided by valve means in which zero flow and predetermined rates of flow can be made. Most preferably, three rates of flow (including zero) are provided, for example at specific rates of zero, of ten percent of the swept volume of the low vacuum stage and of thirty percent of the swept volume of the low vacuum stage.

For a better understanding of the invention, and to show how the invention may be put into effect, reference will now be made, by way of exemplification only, to the accompanying Figure 2 showing a schematic representation of ballast gas and oil supply lines within a pump of the invention.

With reference to Figure 2, there is shown a schematic representation of a two-stage vacuum pump of the invention comprising a housing 1 and a stator body 2. Within the stator body 2 is a high vacuum stage 3, a low vacuum stage 4 and an oil pump 5, all of which comprise a rotor capable of rotating within chambers defined in the stator body 2 and having blades slideably contained in slots therein in the manner described above.

Rotation of the rotors of the high vacuum stage 3, the low vacuum stage 4 and the oil pump 5 is effected by a single motor 6 driving the shaft 7 via an adaptor 8. The ratio of the high vacuum stage capacity to the low vacuum stage capacity is about 1.3:1.

The oil pump 5 is present to deliver oil to the vacuum pump generally and in particular to an oil box supplied via a pressure relief valve 9 and an oil line 10. Oil from the oil pump is also supplied under pressure via an oil line 11 to the low vacuum stage 4 on a permanent basis whilst the vacuum pump is operational.

In addition, and in accordance with the invention, a separate oil line 12 is available to supply oil under pressure to the high vacuum stage 3 via an oil switch 13. The switch 13 can be set at "off" so that no oil is supplied directly to the high vacuum stage 3 or at "on" so that a predetermined flow of oil to the high vacuum stage 3 takes place.

Means are also provided in the housing 1 to provide ballasting gas (in the form of dry air) to the low vacuum stage 4 via a ballast line 14. The ballast gas is supplied via the valve 15 which can be set at one of "zero flow" or a first setting providing about ten percent ballast gas of the swept volume of the low vacuum stage or a second setting providing about thirty percent ballast gas of the swept volume of the high vacuum stage.

With the variable oil feed supply facility to the high vacuum stage (in addition to the feed to the low vacuum stage) and the variable gas ballast supply facility to the low vacuum stage, and in the light of the relatively low ratio of high vacuum capacity to low vacuum capacity, the vacuum pumps of the invention can provide a variety of settings (six in the exemplified pump) each of which allows the pump to adopt a variety of working characteristics provided at the various oil supply/ballasting settings. There is shown therein three settings for the ballast flow "Off", "Low" (for example 5, 10 or 15% of pump capacity) and "High" (for example 10, 20 or 30% of pump capacity) and for each setting and oil feed either to the low vacuum stage only or to both low and high vacuum stages. An indication of the type of pump operation at each setting is shown in the Table.

BALLAST FLOW

OIL FEED

(LOW VAC ONLY)

to LOW VAC stage

to LOW VAC AND HIGH VAC stages

OFF

good ultimate vacuum (2)

high throughput (1)

LOW

low vapour handling (2)

low vapour handling and rapid oil cleansing (3)

HIGH

high vapour handling (3)

high vapour handling and rapid oil cleansing (1)

Note

(1) equates to one stage pump operation

(2) equates to two stage pump operation

(3) provides new type of operation