AVS 59th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition
    Vacuum Technology Wednesday Sessions
       Session VT+AS+SS-WeM

Paper VT+AS+SS-WeM3
Ion Pump Starting Behaviour at High Pressures - Influence of Pump Design Diode / Triode and Power Supply

Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 8:40 am, Room 14

Session: Surface Analysis and Vacuum Manufacturing for Accelerators
Presenter: M. Thierley, Agilent Technologies, Italy
Authors: M. Thierley, Agilent Technologies, Italy
C. Paolini, Agilent Technologies, Italy
Correspondent: Click to Email
Today ion pumps are broadly seen as pumps for good high vacuum and ultra-high vacuum environments. Operated at these low pressures, the power consumption of ion pumps is also very low, making ion pumps one of the most energy efficient vacuum pump technologies. Power supplies, however, with several hundred Watts of power continue to be used, as in the past decades, often based on the fear of not being able to start the ion pump; historic issues associated with higher pressures. In this presentation/paper, the differences in starting behaviour of Diode and Triode pump elements are discussed, based on experimental data. Questions addressed will include; how does the pumping speed of these elements change while starting with voltage and current? What impact does the power and design of the pump control unit have on the start and the pump down time of the vacuum system? What is the impact of the power supply unit’s technology (ie. classic transformer based design vs. more modern switching power supplies)? In addition to controller experimental data and discussion of the operation theory of the pump elements, pictures of the actual plasma development inside the pump will be featured.