Vacuum chamber and method of creating a vacuum

Abstract

The vacuum chamber includes an airtight generally cylindrical wall and a pair of end members. Vacuum pumps in the chamber evacuate the chamber. The chamber is rotated along the longitudinal axis whereby the centrifugal force of the rotating cylindrical wall acts against the force resulting from the pressure differential between the inside of the evaluated chamber and ambient pressure on the outside of the cylindrical wall to prevent the cylindrical wall from collapsing. An inner member is mounted in the chamber, but the chamber rotates with respect to the inner member. In a low temperature embodiment for freeze drying refrigerated air cools the outside of the chamber to reduce the temperature within the chamber. The consensables condense on the inside of the cold cylindrical wall. A lathe adjacent the inside of the cylindrical wall and lathe drive means for moving the lathe along the length of the cylindrical wall as the wall passes thereover upon rotation of the chamber for removing excess ice from the inside of the cylindrical wall. A higher temperature embodiment for hydrocarbon pyrolysis is also disclosed. Shale is fed into bins, is heated, and vapors condense on the chamber wall where they form a liquid from which is pumped through the chamber by centrifugal force of the rotating chamber.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.