There are two main types of blowers and boosters when it comes to the world of vacuum and pressure. There are negative pressure (vacuum) and positive pressure booste...
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Blowers & Boosters
Blowers and Boosters
There are two main types of blowers and boosters when it comes to the world of vacuum and pressure. There are negative pressure (vacuum) and positive pressure boosters. Vacuum boosters work in conjunction with a roughing pump in order to supercharge the vacuum. The vacuum booster ads an extra stage of vacuum and acts like a big fan, allowing volumes of air to be pumped down faster. In contrast, positive pressure boosters are used to push air.
The design of vacuum boosters varies from manufacture to manufacture, but the main principals are the same. The pumping mechanism for vacuum boosters are two or more rotating lobes, also known as roots stages, which rotate around shafts, compressing and sweeping air from the pump inlet to the exhaust. Vacuum boosters sit on top or inline to the roughing pumps. The exhaust of the booster is connected to the inlet of the backing roughing pump. Vacuum boosters can be used in conjunction with many different types of roughing pumps including oil sealed vane, oil sealed piston, liquid ring, dry hook and claw, and dry multistage roots pumps. Vacuum boosters can have features such as a hydrokinetic drive or bypass to allow the booster to run at atmosphere or elevated pressures until it reaches optimal vacuum level and can engage to produce desired vacuum level and flow.
Popular applications for vacuum boosters include semiconductor applications, vacuum distillation, steel degassing, industrial freeze drying and thin film coating.
Similar to vacuum boosters positive pressure boosters typically contain lobes which rotate around a shaft. Positive pressure boosters push gas from the inlet to the exhaust by trapping the gas in the counter rotating lobes. Positive pressure boosters are made for various applications and range in their ability to tolerate pressure levels and some are designed to operate under negative or positive pressure rates.
Popular applications for positive pressure boosters include steam cleaning, gas transport, vapor recovery, pneumatic conveying, aeration, dust collection ad bulk unloading/loading.