Ionization vacuum gauge
AssigneeVarian, Inc.
InventorRaffaele Correale
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to an ionisation vacuum gauge for measuring the residual pressure of a gaseous material remaining in a container (10), more particularly after operation of a vacuum pump. The gauge comprises an electron-emitting cathode (17), a grid (13) for accelerating the electrons emitted by the cathode and a plate (15) collecting the ions and/or the ionised positive molecules of the gas, wherein said plate is placed outside said grid. Measuring the plate current by a galvanometer allows determining the value of the residual pressure inside the container.
Claims26
An ionisation vacuum gauge for measuring a residual pressure of a gaseous material in a container (10) comprising:
- an electron-emitting cathode (17),
- a grid (13;
- 113;
- 113′) for accelerating electrons emitted by said cathode, wherein said accelerating grid (113;
- 113′) has a substantially parallelepiped shape and comprises a face (113a) substantially parallel with and opposite to said cathode (17), whereby said accelerating electrons emitted by said cathode are directed along a direction F substantially normal to said face (113a),
- a plate (15) collecting ions and/or ionised positive molecules of the gaseous material, said plate (15) being placed outside said grid (13;
- 113;
- 113′), and
- a galvanometer (33) for measuring a plate current, and deriving therefrom a value of the residual pressure inside the container.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.