Vacuum pump and array thereof

A vacuum pump comprising:

• a housing (20) having an internal vacuum chamber (21) and a side-mounted suction port (27) extending to the vacuum chamber (21);
• an ejector pump (30) mounted to axially extend in the vacuum chamber (21);
• and
• an air filter (40) coaxially arranged on an outer surface of the ejector pump (30),
• wherein the ejector pump (30) has an air hole 33 formed in a side wall thereof to communicate with the vacuum chamber (21), a first end serving as an inlet port (31), and a second end serving as an outlet port (32),
• the air filter (40) is a porous tubular filter, and
• the housing (20) has, as two separate compressed air supply lines, a vacuum creation line extending to the inlet port (31) via a first supply line (22) and a vacuum release line extending to a gap between the ejector pump (30) and the air filter (40) via a second supply line (23),
• wherein the air filter (40) includes a tubular filter body (41) and a rib-connecting reinforcing member (42) provided on an outer surface of the tubular filter body (41) to support a load externally applied to the air filter (40),
• the reinforcing member (42) includes an annular inner protrusion (43) protruding toward the outer surface of the inlet port (31) of the ejector pump (30) and a hole (44) extending through the inner protrusion (43), and
• the vacuum release line extends to the gap (24) via the second supply line (23) and the hole (44).