Vacuum/volume 51/number 3/pages 427 to 431/1998

\ Pergamon
© 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd
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PII: S0042-207X(98)00188-2

A study of the complete dynamic balance of the rotor

inertial forces in the rotary piston vacuum pump
Zhiyuan Li and Xinzhao Chen, Department of Mechanical Manufacturing Engineering Hefei University of
Technology, Hefei 230009, P. R. China

received 28 February 1998

In this paper, the conditions for the complete dynamic balance of rotor inertial forces in the rotary piston
vacuum pump with single cylinder are determined based on motion analysis. The experiment results show
that the pump vibration can be depressed obviously by improving the rotor structure according to the balance
conditions. It is proved that the rotor inertial forces can not be balanced completely even by means of the
‘‘Triplex balance technique’’ of the rotary piston pump with three cylinders. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All
rights reserved.

0[ Introduction weight[ However\ a rotary piston vacuum pump of this kind

Since the _rst appearance of the rotary piston vacuum pump\ the
vibration caused by rotor inertial forces has drawn attention and
many investigations have been made into this problem for over
more than 39 years[ But this problem has not yet been thoroughly
solved[
In the 0849|s A[ Lorenz presented the rotary piston vacuum
pump with two cylinders as diagrammatically shown in Figure
0"a#[ According to the analysis in reference\ð1Ł this kind of struc!
ture\ however\ can only balance the odd harmonic inertial forces[
Because of its being unsymmetrical in structure\ an additional
force moment is produced and exerted on the pump body[ Today\
the rotary piston vacuum pump of this kind is still used by the
Leybold Company of Germany[
In 0859|s\ the rotary piston vacuum pump with three cylinders
which has more complicated structure was developed by Kinney
Company of USA\ as shown in Fig[ 0"b#[ It is said that this kind
of rotary piston body can balance itself without any additional
is complicated in structure and requires a higher accuracy in
manufacture as well as assembly[
The rotary piston vacuum pump with one cylinder remains in
favour because of its simplicity in structure and technology[ So
far as dynamic balance of its rotor is concerned\ a method of the
so called _rst harmonic balance was presented in reference[ð4Ł
The additional weights are calculated on the basis of the _rst
harmonic inertial force and then evenly assigned to the driving
wheel\ as well as the balance wheel as shown in Figure 0"c#[
Considering the type H!049 rotary piston vacuum pump\ it was
found\ see Figure 1\ that the _rst harmonic component of its
vibration "8[1 Hz# had been depressed\ while the secondary har!
monic component of its vibration remains unchanged[
None of the three typical balance methods discussed above can
balance the inertial force of the rotor completely[ Therefore N[
S[ Harris et al[ believed that the existence of unbalanced inertial
forces in the rotary piston vacuum pump was only natural[ In
0879|s\ the Japan Society of Machinery also claimed that the

Figure 0[ Three common styles of rotary piston pump[

427
Z. Li, X. Chen: A study of the complete dynamic balance of the rotor inertial forces in the rotary piston vacuum pump

Figure 1[ Spectrum of vibration displacement of pump body after optimal additional weight by _rst harmonic method[

vibration could not be avoided for rotary piston vacuum pump[ that the inertial force of the rotary piston body can reach as high
This drawback of the rotary piston vacuum pump restricts its as 6999 N[ There is no doubt that this force will form a strong
development in the direction of high!speed and miniaturization[ vibration source for the pump body whose weight is only 699 kg[
However\ J[ L[ Elliot and D[ Fesar carried out the dynamic To reach a complete balance for the structure shown in Figure
force analysis for various kinds of four!bar structures by using 2[ means to make the sum of inertial forces of moving parts
vector method as early as in 0866 and suggested the general vanish\ i[e[\ the following equation should be satis_ed]
conditions\ for the balance of inertial forces[ In this paper\ the
2
conditions for the complete dynamic balance of inertial force s miri  9 "0#
of rotary piston vacuum pump with one cylinder are deduced i0
according to the above method\ and a partial veri_cation is pre!
sented through experiment[ The above formula can be rewritten in a component form]
Finally\ the method is also applied to the analysis of dynamic 2
balance for the rotary piston vacuum pump with three cylinders[ s mixi"t#  9 "1#
i0

1[ The complete balance conditions of the rotor inertial forces 2

The rotary piston vacuum pump with single cylinder can be s miyi"t#  9 "2#
i0
regarded as a crank!rocker mechanism shown in Figure 2\ where
crank 0 is an eccentric wheel\ rocker 1 a rotary piston body "i[e[ where xi"t# and yi"t# are the components of ri along the coordinate
rotary piston ring and rotary piston body#\ slide block 2 a rotary axes[
piston guide rail and frame 3 a pump body[ In order to simplify First of all\ the component along the coordinate axis X should
discussion\ mi\ si and ri are supposed to represent the mass\ the be taken into consideration and the mass moment of moving
position of mass center and the position vector of mass center parts in this direction can be obtained after integrating formula
for all three moving parts respectively[ eq[ "1# twice]
The inertial forces of all the moving parts in a operating pump
2
will be transferred to the engine base through the motion pairs
and formed a total force Smiri which varies periodically in both
s mixi"t#  c0t¦c1 "3#
i0
its value and direction[ It is the force that makes the pump body
vibrate violently[ For H!049 rotary piston\ the calculation shows where c0 and c1 are constants[

Figure 2[ Schematic diagram of rotary piston pump with single cylinder[

428
Z. Li, X. Chen: A study of the complete dynamic balance of the rotor inertial forces in the rotary piston vacuum pump

All the moving parts are working periodically\ the coordinate the inertial forces of the structure are in a state of complete
components xi"t# of their mass centers are therefore periodic balance\ the coe.cients of cos 8 and cosu must be zero\ i[e[
functions with regard to time\ i[e[\
m0 = OS0¦m1 =OA  9 "03#
xi"t#  xi"t¦T# "4#
m1 = AS1¦m2 =CS2  9 "04#
where T is the motion cycle of the moving parts[ Hence we have
the following formula] Formulas eqns "03# and "04# are the necessary and su.cient
conditions for the complete balance of inertial force caused by
2 the moving parts of rotary piston vacuum pump[ They can also
s mixi"t¦T#  c0"t¦T#¦c1 "5# be expressed as]
i0

From formulas eqns "3#Ð"5#\ it is not di.cult to _nd c0  9[ As m0 = OS0  −m1 = OA "05#
a result\ the sum of the mass moments for all the moving parts is
a constant\ i[e[\ m1 =AS1  −m2 = CS2 "06#
2
where the minus sign means that the direction of mass center
s mixi"t#  c1 "6#
i0 supposed in Figure 2 is opposite to the direction of mass center
required in complete balance[ Similar results can also be obtained
Similar result can be obtained from formula eqn "2#] from formula eq[ "01#[
2
In the complete balance conditions of inertial force\ formula
s miyi"t#  c?1 "7# eq[ "05# is used to calculate the additional weight applied outside
i0 the pump body while formula eq[ "06# serves to calculate the
additional weight applied inside the pump body[
Based on the fact that the total mass of three moving parts is M As a particular example\ when AS1 and CS2 are both equal to
and the coordinates of total mass center are xs\ ys\ the following zero\ which means that the mass centers of the rotary piston
formulas eqns "8# and "09# can be deduced from formulas eqns body and the rotary piston guide rail coincide with their rotation
"1# and "2# by mass moment theorem] centers respectively\ the mass center of the rotary piston body
2 will be in a state of circular motion[ Only on this occasion is it
Mxs  s mixi  c1 "8# possible to balance the inertial force completely through the
i0 application of outside additional weight[
2
Mys  s miyi  c1? "09#
i0 2[ Analysis of the dynamic balance for the rotary piston pump with
three cylinders
Formulas eqns "8# and "09# implicate that the inertial force of the
structure is in a state of complete balance provided the total mass {{Triplex balance technique|| for the rotary piston pump with
moment must be constant[ In other words\ the position of total three cylinders is patent of Kinney Company of USA[ The con!
mass center must remain steady when the inertial force of the _guration of three cylinders is shown in Figure 0"b#\ where the
rotary piston pump is in a state of complete balance\ i[e[\ sum of the mass of the two short eccentric wheels is equal to the
mass of the long eccentric wheel\ the sum of the mass of the two

0 1>
2 short rotary piston bodies is equal to the mass of the long rotary
xs  s mixi M  constant "00# piston body and the sum of the mass of two short guide rails is
i0
equal to the mass of the long guide rail[ Thus\ the structure of
the pump with three cylinders can be simpli_ed as Figure 3[

0 1>
2
ys  s miyi M  constant "01# The mass moment can be described as]
i0
2 2
Substituting the coordinates of the mass centers of all the moving
s "mixi¦mi?xi?#  s mi"xi¦xi?#
parts in Fig[ 2 into formula eqn "00#\ we obtain] i0 i0

xs  ðm0OS0cos 8¦m1"OA = cos8¦AS1cosu#  "m1 = AS1¦m2 = CS2#"cos u¦cos u?#

¦m2"OC = cos a¦CS2cos u#Ł:M ¦1m2 = OC = cos a
 ð"m0 = OS0¦m1 = OA#cos 8 2
s "miyi¦mi?yi?#  "m1 = AS1¦m2 = CS2#"sin u¦sin u?#
¦"m1 = AS1¦m2 = CS2#cos u i0

¦m2 = OC = cos aŁ:M "02# ¦1m2 = OC = sin a

Because the following equation
where 8 is the rotation angle of crank 0\ u the angle between
rocker 1 and the coordinate axis X\ a the angle between OC and m1 = AS1¦m2 = CS2  9
the coordinate axis X[
In formula eqn "02# m0\ m1\ m2\ OC and cos a are constants[ fails to hold for the rotary piston pump with three cylinders\
Because the coordinate of total mass center is a constant while therefore\
429
Z. Li, X. Chen: A study of the complete dynamic balance of the rotor inertial forces in the rotary piston vacuum pump

Figure 3[ Schematic diagram of rotary piston pump with three cylinders[

Table 0[ The experiment data of dynamic balance for H!049 pump "on inlet#0

Before balancing Method 0 Method 1

P!P RMS P!P RMS P!P RMS

Horizontal dir[ "mm# 9[319 9[984 9[179 9[951 9[049 9[922

Vertical dir[ "mm# 9[049 9[915 9[019 9[916 9[099 9[913

Method 0] First harmonic optical additional weight[

Method 1] Approximate additional weight under balance conditions[

2 with the size and distribution of the mass centres of the rotor
s "mixi¦mi?xi?#  constant parts\ but has nothing to do with the rotation rate of the
i0
pump[ This is of great advantage for the increase in rotation
2 rate and decrease in volume as well as the weight of the pump
s "miyi¦mi?yi?#  constant so as to make it possible to develop a rotary piston pump
i 0
from a slow!speed pump to a high!speed direct!linkage one as
It can be seen that the inertial force of the rotor of the rotary for the rotary vane pump[
piston pump with three cylinders is not balanced completely[ 2[ It can be concluded from the study that the rotary piston
pump with three cylinders can not balance the inertial force
3[ Experimental test of the rotor completely[

In order to test the balance e}ect using the complete dynamic
balance condition for the inertial force of rotary piston pump\
the mass center of the rotary piston body of H!049 pump is
moved about 09 mm towards its rotation center and its mass
reduced by 2 kg or so[ As a result of this adjustment\ the vibration
of the pump is obviously depressed[ The experimental results
using the _rst harmonic optimal additional weight method
described in ð4Ł on the same operating mode are also shown in
Table 0 as a comparison between the two methods[
4[ Conclusions
0[ In order to balance the inertial force of the rotor completely\
an additional weight should be applied not only outside the
pump body but also inside it\ i[e[\ the distribution of the mass
centers for all the parts of the rotor should be reassigned
according to the balance conditions[
1[ The complete dynamic balance condition has something to do
It is worth mentioning that the original inertial force moment
will be changed when the inertial force of the rotor system of the
rotary piston pump has been balanced completely[ Generally\ the
inertial force moment can not reach the dynamic balance at
the same time[ The author will introduce in another paper the
conditions for the inertial force moment to reach a thorough
dynamic balance under the prerequisite of the dynamic balance
of inertial force of the rotor system of the rotary piston pump
and further investigate the problems produced when both of
them have been balanced completely[
References
0[ Lorenz\ A[\ Trans[ 7th Nat Vac Symp Avs[ 68\ 0847[
1[ Yang\ Y[\ Zhejian` Machinery[ 4"0#\ China\ 0872[
2[ Leybold\ A[ G[\ Cataloyue[ Germany\ 0881[
3[ General Company[ Catalo`ue[ 0873[
4[ Hu\ H[ and Li\ Z[\ Vacuum Science and Technolo`y\ 0882\ 02\ 224[
5[ Harris\ N[ S[ and Budgen\ L[\ Vacuum\ 0865\ 15\ 414[

430
Z. Li, X. Chen: A study of the complete dynamic balance of the rotor inertial forces in the rotary piston vacuum pump

6[ Japan Society of Machinery\ Handbook of Mechanical Technology\
Mechanical Industry Press\ pp[ 09Ð47\ China\ 0873[
7[ Elliot\ J[ L[ and Tesar\ D[\ Trans[ ASME\ S"B#[ 0866\ 88"2#[
8[ Li\ Z[ and Chen\ X[\ Hu\ H[\ Vacuum Science and Technolo`y\ 0889\
09\ 392[
09[ Harris\ N[ S[\ Vacuum\ 0867\ 17\ 150[
00[ Zhao\ X[\ Chinese Jourual of Mechanical En`ineerin`\ 0881\ 17\ 51[
01[ Yang\ T[ and Zhang\ M[\ Chinese Journal of Mechanical En`ineerin`\
0881\ 17\ 88[

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