Rotary Vane Pumps Basics

by Julian Booth SMM Expert

There are several type of pumps available in the market to meet the different needs of different industries. But sometimes it is possible that one cannot find the vacuum pump of his needs and so it needs to be custom built. And this is the most exciting and unique feature of vacuum pumps. Because of number of options in vacuum pumps it is good to gather information about the different options and about your need and then make your decision.

One type of vacuum pump is the rotary vane pump. They are a part of positive displacement pump category. They move the fluid through the pump using the rotating assembly in the pumping chamber. It usually takes one or two rotating vanes to move the gas or the fluid from the inlet to the outlet. As the bulk of the fluid is transferred by the rotary vane pumps the end of the vane barely brushes the housing part and thus creates the seal from the inlet to the outlet.

The movement of the pump can be broken down into three different phases in the rotary vane pumps:

Gas or the fluids move through the inlet.
The vanes rotate either clockwise or anticlockwise to seal the media between the vanes and the housing wall. Due to the fluids, this volume should remain constant throughout the entire cycling process.
Then the gas or fluid is moved through the outlet. The rotor blades are positioned in such a way that it contains a specific volume of the fluid. Due to the cyclic movement of the vanes it creates a smooth flow as the gas or fluid is transferred through the pumping chamber.

Following characteristics of vanes make the rotary vane pumps being used widely by different industries for different applications:

Can be made from several materials.
Have the flexibility of being able to choose the inert gases and many different type of gases.
Can either be internal or external.
Can also be rigid or flexible.

One will wonder whether these options will be available when he purchases the rotary vane vacuum pump already assembled. But one can tell his needs in the pump and it can be customized. There are other things that need to be considered while rotary vane pumps is being built. The surface dimensions of the housing and the rotary assembly might be considered while calculating the flow rate. The other requirements that might be included is the vacuum service or air compression.

There are various other options, but this can give the idea of what a rotary vane pump can do.