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Measurement
Vacuum Applications:
Industry:
Applications in industry:
Electrical engineering industry:
Manufacturing of electric light bulbs ( First usage : about 1900 )
Manufacturing power transformers & cables :
( Rem. large quantities of water from the core & windings, using a combination of heating & vacuum )
( Also Removing air trapped in the windings / Finally being impregnated by oil )
Manufacturing of certain types of HV or HCC switches :
Improvement in electrical insulation ( By Reducing their arcing or flashover in a LP env. )
Semiconductor Industry
Chemical & allied industries:
Lowering the boiling point ( to enable compounds to be separated into their ind. chem. compounds )
Purging Pipelines
Production of reactive metals ( such as titanium )
Freeze drying:
Dehydration by sublimation ( Changing the state without becoming water ) from the frozen surface
Advantages : Minimal product spoilage ( ruin ) due to elim. of liquid & processing at sub-0 temp.s
Using in :
Reactive powders, Museum specimens, Tissue for microscopy, Preparation of blood plasma
Product treatment : Coffee, Fruit juices, Vegetables, meat, Blood Plas., Antibiotics ( penicillin )
even Bone & Arteries have been preserved for long periods
Vacuum coating:
Vaporizing metals & salts under high vacuum , Condensing on any solid surface
Producing : Mirrors, Ophthalmic lenses, Antiglare & antistatic glasses, Tel. tubes, Decorative Pls.
Architectural glass ( multiple layers deposited, both transparent & heat reflecting )
Blooming of lens surfaces ( to increase light transmission )
Vacuum leak testing:
Finding holes of app. one-millionth of cent. in diameter in a comp. having a wall thickness of 2mm.
Aerospace, Electronics, Atomic energy, Cryogenics & Refrigeration industries, Missile const.
Checking sealed devices ( such as transistors, crystals & relays ), U-Enrichment
Vacuum Measurement:
Total Pressure Measurement:
No distinction is made between the permanent gases ( hydrogen, nitrogen, etc. )
and vapors ( oil vapor, water vapor, etc. )
Measurement:
Mass-Spectrometers:
Identification of molecules by separating ions according to their charge to mass ratio
Spectrometers:
Detecting the release of chemisorbed & physisorbed gases upon heating the absorbent
Direct:
Mechanical phenomena gauges:
Depend on the actual force exerted by the gas
Measurement:
The displacement of an elastic material
The force required to compensate its disp.
U-tube manometer
Capsule dial gauge
Strain gauge
Capacitance manometers
McLeod gauge
Indirect: A particular physical property of the gas is measured
Transport phenomena gauges:
Measurement:
The gaseous drag on a moving body
Thermal conductivity of the gas
Problem:
Expensive
Constant-temperature Pirani:
Range: 1000 to 10-3 mbar
Problem:
Contamination ( by oil, etc. )
Thermocouple: Change of temperature of the filament is monitored by a thermocouple
Range: 5 to 10-3 mbar ( Above 5, the filament temperature changes very little )
Advantage:
Using very low power
Ionization:
Bombardment of a gas with electrons, remaining a positive ion
Residual ( Remainder ) Currents:
Establish a lower limit to the pressure measurable
Soft x-ray ( Low-energy = No danger to health ) photo-emission:
As electrons from the filament strike the grid, some of their energy is converted into X-rays.
Many of these X-rays strike the collector & cause further electrons to be released from it.
So some positive charge produced. Thus even if the pressure is below 10-10 mbar,
the X-ray limit due to bombardment causes the gauge to register a steady 10-10 mbar.
Problems:
Reactions of the gas mols with hot filament, seriously affects the composition of the gas, reliability
( Typical operating temperature is 1700 C, hot enough to break down many mols into smaller fragments )
Problems:
The ion-induced current is not linearly related to the pressure, rather, the relationship is exponential
Less accurate than HCGs
Cleaning is necessary ( Oil vapors )
Starting of the CCGs can be delayed ( LP ), can be turned on at higher pressure during a
pumpdown
Capsule dial
5%
of full-scale deflection
Capacitance
manometer
1%
McLeod
10%
of reading or better
Spinning Rotor
1 2%
Pirani
6%
between 0.01 & 10 mbar
Thermocouple
10%
between 0.01 & 1 mbar
Penning
+100% to 50 %
e.g. at 10-4 it can be 2*10-4 or 5*10-5
mbar
Bayard-Alpert
10%
between 10-7 & 10-4 mbar
20%
at 0.001 & 10-9 mbar
100%
at 10-10 mbar