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Don't Calculate Pressure Drops in a Vacuum

Consider flow regime boundaries and the limitations of methods.
By Andrew Sloley, Contributing Editor
Jun 08, 2011

Vacuum technologists and process engineers typically define vacuum conditions differently. The rule of thumb
for process engineers is that operations down to roughly 40 mm Hg pressure are "high vacuum pressures," ones
down to 5–10 mm Hg are "medium vacuum pressures," and those below 5 mm Hg are "low vacuum pressures."
These ranges are set by the effect of cooling water temperatures on the design of the commonly used steam jet
ejector and liquid-ring pump vacuum systems.
In contrast, vacuum technologists often use definitions based on the flow
behavior of the system. "High pressure vacuum" systems operate where flow
is in the viscous region. "Medium pressure vacuum" covers pressures in a
transition region. "Low pressure vacuum" involves flow in the molecular
“Results of
region. pressure drop
calculations at
For normal flow we experience, molecule/molecule collisions dominate the the new
flow pattern. This is the viscous flow region, which includes both turbulent and operating
laminar flow. We use Reynolds number, NRe, to characterize flow: laminar conditions
flow occurs at NRe less than 2,000, transition flow at NRe between 2,000 and posed a
4,000, and turbulent flow at NRe greater than 4,000.
problem.”

For a gas, as pressure falls, density drops. Decreasing density increases the distance between molecules.
Greater spacing raises the mean free path a molecule moves before a molecule-to-molecule collision occurs.
Based on ideal gas behavior and spherical molecules, the mean free path length can be determined from:

λ = kBT/2½πσ2P (1)

where λ is the mean free path length, kB is the Boltzmann constant (1.3806 × 10-23 m2 kg s-2 K-1), T is
temperature, σ is the effective hard-shell diameter of the molecule, and P is the pressure. The ratio of λ to the
characteristic length, Lc, is called the Knudsen number, NKn. When it approaches 1, molecule-to-surface
interactions determine system pressure drop. In such cases, pressure drops significantly will exceed those
predicted by conventional flow calculations.

Lower-than-Predicted Pressures
Figure 1. Results conflict markedly with data in
commonly used reference.
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A commonly used reference (Myerson, E. B., "Empty

Your Head of Misconceptions about Vacuum Systems,"
p. 50, CEP, July 1996) states that alternative calculation
methods are needed from around 25 torr (start of
transition region) and are really important below 10 torr.

A recent project provided insights about calculating such

pressure drops. It involved altering operation of a wiped-
film evaporator and its de-entrainment system to 4 torr
from 10 torr. Estimating the change in system capacity
required checking pressure drops from the evaporator
inlet to the vacuum pump suction.

For the molecular-flow regime, the correct pressure-drop

calculation uses formulas derived from a conductance analogy. The conductance of a flow component is defined
as the throughput (power) divided by the pressure drop:

C = Q/(P1 – P2) (2)

The effective conductance for components in series is:
1/CTotal = 1/C1 + 1/C2 + …1/CFinal (3)

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