Discover oil-free vacuum pumps for clean processes

Ever wondered how sensitive products like semiconductor chips, food or freeze-dried products are manufactured keeping in mind hygiene and a clean environment? It's all thanks to advanced technology like Atlas Copco's dry vacuum pumps. These pumps, like the screw, claw, and scroll designs, work without any messy oils or liquids. They create a strong vacuum, capable of handling pressures from 50 millibars to as low as 0.01 millibars. That's a seriously powerful suction!

Industries love these pumps because they're reliable and need way less maintenance. Plus, they're cost-effective to run. These oil-free vacuum pumps are superheroes when it comes to handling demanding processes without any oily baggage and subsequent recurring maintenance costs. Dry vacuum pumps operate without the need for oil or any other liquid for their functioning, unlike oil-sealed rotary vane pumps or liquid ring pumps. There are several types of dry vacuum pumps, but let's focus on the claw pump, which Atlas Copco vacuum is known for.

The claw pump works by using two claw-shaped rotors that rotate in opposite directions within a housing, typically shaped like an hourglass. One rotor is fixed, while the other is driven by a motor. As the rotors spin, they create a series of expanding and contracting chambers.

Here's a simplified step-by-step breakdown of how a claw pump operates:

1. Intake: At the start, the claws are positioned so that one rotor draws in gas from the inlet side. As the rotors rotate, this gas gets trapped between the claws and the housing.
2. Compression: As the rotors continue to rotate, the volume of the trapped gas reduces due to the decreasing size of the chambers created by the claw-shaped rotors. This compression increases the pressure of the gas.
3. Discharge: When the gas reaches the discharge side, the space between the claws expands again, allowing the gas to be expelled through the outlet.
4. Repeat: This process repeats continuously as the rotors keep rotating, creating a consistent flow of gas from the inlet to the outlet.

The absence of oil or liquid in dry vacuum pumps eliminates the risk of contamination from these substances, making them ideal for applications where a clean vacuum environment is crucial, such as in semiconductor manufacturing, laboratories, and certain industrial processes.

Dry vacuum pumps often require less maintenance compared to oil-sealed pumps because there's no need to monitor or replace oil, reducing the risk of oil contamination and the associated costs. Additionally, they tend to have a longer lifespan and are more environmentally friendly due to the absence of oil disposal issues.