Vacuum Pump without a Moving Part Driven by Thermal Edge Flow

Abstract

A vacuum pump without a moving part driven by thermal edge flow is devised and the performance of a prototype of the pump is examined experimentally. In this driving unit, the temperature gradient on each of its solid parts is not required and heat flow through solid parts, which results in loss of energy, can be reduced considerably. Thus, the energy efficiency of the new system is improved 6 times more than that of our Knudsen compressor reported in Rarefied Gas Dynamics, AIP, New York, 1041–1049 (2003).