E – 1885 Vacuum Engineering

Vacuum is space devoid of matter. The word stems from the Latin adjective vacuus for “vacant” or “void”. An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. This course talks about different methods/pumps to create vacuum and its measurement.

These devices are categorized based on the techniques like positive displacement, momentum transfer, entrapment etc. Each pump is used for different application. Positive displacement pumps are the most effective for low vacuums. Momentum transfer pumps in conjunction with one or two positive displacement devices are the most common configuration used to achieve high vacuums. There are several performance measures for measuring the pump capacities are speed, throughput, mass flow rate etc. Details about different types of vacuum pumping systems are narrated in this course.