Method for detecting a deposition layer and associated turbomolecular vacuum pump
AssigneePfeiffer Vacuum GmbH
InventorsPierre-Emmanuel CAVAREC, Nicolas VARENNES
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method detects a deposition layer in a turbomolecular vacuum pump including a stator, a rotor, and at least one temperature sensor. The method includes the following steps: the temperature sensor measures and transmits a temperature representative of the temperature of the rotor to the monitoring unit, the monitoring unit calculates a drift of the temperature with respect to time and compares it to a predefined threshold, when the value of the calculated drift is greater than or equal to the predefined threshold, the monitoring unit detects an abnormal overheating representative of a deposition layer and issues at least one alert signal and/or command to stop the pump.
Claims15
1-13. (canceled)
A method for detecting a deposition layer in a turbomolecular vacuum pump comprising a stator and a rotor configured to revolve in the stator, and at least one temperature sensor arranged in the stator so as to measure a temperature representative of a temperature of the rotor and configured to transmit at least one temperature measurement to a monitoring unit of said pump, the method comprising:
- measuring, via the at least one temperature sensor, said temperature and transmitting the measurement of said temperature to the monitoring unit;
- calculating from the measurement of said temperature transmitted by the at least one temperature sensor, a drift of the temperature with respect to time via the monitoring unit;
- comparing, via the monitoring unit, a value of said calculated drift to a predefined threshold;
- and
- detecting via the monitoring unit, when the value of said calculated drift is greater than or equal to the predefined threshold, an abnormal overheating representative of a deposition layer and issuing at least one alert signal and/or at least one command signal to stop said pump.
A turbomolecular vacuum pump configured to at least partly implement the detection method according to claim 13, said pump comprising:
- the stator;
- the rotor configured to revolve in the stator;
- the at least one temperature sensor arranged in the stator and configured to measure the temperature representative of the temperature of the rotor;
- the monitoring unit, the at least one temperature sensor being configured to transmit the measurement of said temperature to the monitoring unit, and the monitoring unit comprising at least one processing element configured to:
- calculate, from measurements of said temperature transmitted by the at least one temperature sensor, the drift of the temperature with respect to time,
- compare the value of said calculated drift to the predefined threshold, and
- when the value of said calculated drift is greater than or equal to the predefined threshold, detect the abnormal overheating representative of the deposition layer and issue the at least one alert signal and/or the at least one command signal to stop said pump.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.