Vacuum Pumps

A vacuum pump is a device which removes gas molecules or other materials from a sealed volume (a volume that is held within a container), thereby creating a partial vacuum.

The creation of the vacuum displaces air, which creates a low-pressure area or a partial vacuum within a sealed container. There are various kinds of vacuum pumps, including compressed air pumps and mechanical pumps, which are both used for the purpose of creating a partial or high vacuum within a sealed internal environment.

A vacuum pump requires power such an electrical motor, hand-driven piston, or a reservoir of compressed air in order to operate. When in operation, the pumps take air from an enclosed container and then expels it into the atmosphere. While the air pressure in the container is dropping, a partial vacuum is created. While it is not possible to create a complete vacuum by removing all  the gas molecules, the highest functioning pumps are able to get pretty close by creating air pressure billions of times lower than the atmosphere outside the sealed container.

Before the vacuum pump, there was the suction pump, which was used by the Romans and the Byzantines, and dual-action suction pumps were discovered in the ruins of Pompeii city. The very first vacuum pump was invented in the mid-1700s by German scientist and inventor Otto von Guericke, who suctioned water from a sealed cask by creating a partial vacuum using a piston-type vacuum pump. Robert Boyle took the vacuum pump to the next step and conducted experiments on the various properties of the vacuum. He and Robert Hooke built an air pump capable of creating a vacuum. Following that flurry of activity, the study of the vacuum didn’t re-emerge until 1855 when Heinrich Geissler developed the mercury displacement pump and spurred renewed interest in vacuums, leading to the invention of the vacuum tube. By the 19th century, Nikola Tesla had created a device that contained a Sprengel pump to make a high degree of exhaustion utilized in high-performance engines.

Found in scientific, laboratory, and industrial settings, modern-day vacuum pumps are primarily used in scientific research, metal refining, and drying out materials. The density and type of gas or liquid to be removed determines the type of pump and degree of vacuum needed and innovations are continually being developed and refined for their use.  Vacuum pumps are utilized to accomplish such tasks as microbiology filtration, air sampling, suspended solids testing, plastic moulding, electric lamp and vacuum tube production, medical processes that require suction, and electron microscopy, to name a few.

Vacuum pumps have also been utilized to add extra power to race cars. A vacuum pump can increase performance in any engine powerful enough to create significant blow-by. The pump will increase both horsepower and engine life, as well as keep the oil cleaner for a longer period of time. How?  By the vacuum pump being hooked up to the valve covers or valley pan, which then sucks the air from the engine, it significantly cuts down on the air pressure build-up that is created by combustion gasses going past the piston rings into the pan. Vacuums can be used to power or assist the running of other mechanical devices, such as hybrid and diesel engines, and in the running of the gyroscopes in aircraft flight instruments.

Next Day Science offers a high-quality line of Rocker vacuum pumps that are all available at reasonable prices of just a few hundred dollars.