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Gary S. Coyne - A Practical Guide to Materials, Equipment, and Technique.pdf
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Vacuum Systems

The cleaning of a mercury diffusion pump* is somewhat simpler because mercury does not break down as most pump oils do. However, mercury gets dirty, and a dirty mercury pump still needs to be cleaned. After you have drained the mercury out of a glass diffusion pump, refill the pump with approximately a 6 molar nitric acid solution and let it sit until the mercury has been removed. Do not pour this liquid down the sink! Check with local waste management and/or your health and safety officer. The pump should be flushed with distilled water and then rinsed with methanol for drying.

To remove any mercury deposits from a metal vacuum pump, it is important to check with the manufacturer because some cleaning techniques may destroy the pump.

Alembics and distillation pots are not necessary on mercury diffusion pumps because mercury does not fractionate like oils. Although mercury and oil diffusion pumps use the same principle to function, they differ markedly in design. Because there is no fractionating ability in mercury pumps, oils cannot be used in mercury pumps. However, mercury can be used in an oil-designed metal pump on a limited basis—albeit with a noticeable loss of performance. Never use mercury in a diffusion pump with exposed heating elements because the mercury will short out the pump.

7.3.18 Toepler Pumps

It is fairly easy to move condensable vapors from one section to another within a vacuum system by placing liquid nitrogen (within a Dewar) around a trap or sam-

The drain tube must be cut in half to permit the draining of the diffusion pump oils.

Next, fire-polish the end of the tube to prevent cutting the cork that will need to be placed within. This step may leave a burnt deposit that will later need to be removed.

After cleaning, remove any glass with burnt deposits.

Be sure to aim the flame away from the pump.

Finally, add an extension onto the draining tube before refilling the diffusion pump.

Fig. 7.26 The procedure for closing the drain tube on a glass diffusion pump.

*Save any mercury taken from McLeod gauges, manometers, and diffusion pumps because it can be sold to your mercury supplier for purification and reuse. One company that provides this service is Bethlehem Apparatus Co., Inc., 890 Front St., Hellertown, PA 18055.

Pumps 7.3

 

385

 

Inlet

Exhaust

Float

 

valves

 

 

Piston

 

 

chamber

 

Air/vacuum-

 

Tungsten

 

wires

 

 

Tungsten

Mercury

wire

E

level

 

 

Mercury

Fig. 7.27 General layout of a typical electrically operated Toepler pump.

pie tube. The condensable gas will travel to the trap, condense out, and/or freeze. Noncondensable gases (helium and hydrogen for example) cannot be moved in this manner and require a Toepler pump.

Toepler pumps are used for the collection and transfer of noncondensable gases. They are not capable of creating great vacuums, but they can be very effective pumps regardless. A 5OO-cm3-size Toepler pump can remove 99.9% of a two-liter gas bulb in 10 minutes.

A Toepler pump is a piston pump with mercury as the piston. The mercury piston is powered by both the vacuum from a vacuum system and the atmosphere. The actual operation of a Toepler pump involves evacuation followed by readmission of air out of, and into, the Toepler pump. There have been a wide variety of techniques to automate this process because manual operation can be quite tedious.

The most common automation mechanism is to use the electrical conduction abilities of mercury to trigger switches that operate the pump. An example of such

^-Plastic

container

Fig. 7.28 By placing a Toepler pump (or any mercury-containing device) in a plastic container, spills are avoided and it's protected from an accidental bump.

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