Characterization of a Radiantly Driven Multistage Knudsen Compressor

Knudsen Compressors are meso/micro scale gas compressors/pumps based on thermal transpiration or thermal creep. The design of radiantly driven Knudsen Compressors is discussed, along with a model that was developed to understand their performance. Experimental pumping performances for Knudsen Compressors with one, two, five, and fifteen stage, radiantly driven cascades are also discussed. Temperature measurements across the transpiration membranes, for various pressures of Nitrogen, were obtained and compared to those predicted by the performance model. The results agree with the model to within 15% consistently under predicting the measured hot side temperature of the transpiration membrane. The pump-down curves, steady-state maximum pressure differences, and maximum flow rates produced by a single stage Knudsen Compressor were obtained. A variety of configurations were studied at pressures from 500 mTorr to atmospheric pressure. The experimental results agreed with the performance model’s predictions to within 20%.Copyright © 2003 by ASME

[1]  Y. Sone,et al.  Performance analysis and optimization considerations for a Knudsen compressor in transitional flow , 2002 .

[2]  Kazuo Aoki,et al.  Temperature jump and Knudsen layer in a rarefied gas over a plane wall: Numerical analysis of the linearized Boltzmann equation for hard‐sphere molecules , 1989 .

[3]  R. J. Ferran,et al.  High‐pressure effects in miniature arrays of quadrupole analyzers for residual gas analysis from 10−9 to 10−2 Torr , 1996 .

[4]  R. Pekala,et al.  Thermal Conductivity of Monolithic Organic Aerogels , 1992, Science.

[5]  M. Knudsen,et al.  Eine Revision der Gleichgewichtsbedingung der Gase. Thermische Molekularströmung , 1909 .

[6]  Y. Sone,et al.  Analysis of Poiseuille and thermal transpiration flows for arbitrary Knudsen numbers by a modified Knudsen number expansion method and their database. , 1990 .

[7]  Lawrence W. Hrubesh,et al.  Thermal properties of organic and inorganic aerogels , 1994 .

[8]  M. Knudsen.  Thermischer Molekulardruck der Gase in Röhren , 1910 .

[9]  Mikhail Naumovich Kogan,et al.  Rarefied Gas Dynamics , 1969 .

[10]  Kazuo Aoki,et al.  Numerical analysis of the Poiseuille and thermal transpiration flows between two parallel plates on the basis of the Boltzmann equation for hard‐sphere molecules , 1989 .

[11]  E. P. Muntz,et al.  Knudsen compressor as a micro- and macroscale vacuum pump without moving parts or fluids , 1999 .

[12]  Stephen Vargo,et al.  Microscale Vacuum Pumps , 2001 .

[13]  A. Hunt,et al.  Transport properties of gas in silica aerogel , 1995 .

[14]  S. Terry,et al.  A gas chromatographic air analyzer fabricated on a silicon wafer , 1979, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.