Rough Vac

"The most impressive feature of this year’s PROCESS EXPO was the tremendous quality of customers in attendance," said Gil Williams, Chairman of the Food Processing Suppliers Association (FPSA) and President of Poly-clip System USA and Canada. “During the show we were able to meet with a number of important customers and sit down with prospects that we are confident will lead to new sales in the short to medium term, helping us close out 2015 on a strong note and jump start our sales efforts in 2016.”

We were fortunate enough to speak with Keith Webb, the Application Engineering Manager at MD-Kinney, to learn about the company and its manufacturing equipment. During our discussion, we talked about the company’s blower and vacuum technologies, common markets and applications, and MD-Kinney’s custom-engineering capabilities. Webb even touched on some trends in energy management regarding blower and vacuum systems.

“What is the best type of oil to use in my vacuum pump?” is a common question for sure, and one that may often yield confusing and conflicting answers. The rule of thumb is that it is always best to follow OEM recommendations, but why do they recommend the lubricants that they do? For the purpose of this article, we will focus on some of the general industrial vacuum pump applications and their lubricant choices.

For 165 years, Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum has developed and supplied vacuum pumps, systems, standardized and customized vacuum solutions, and after-sales services for a wide range of industrial and research-based applications. In these fields of industry, Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum offers low, medium, high and ultrahigh vacuum pumps, vacuum systems, measuring gauges and instruments, leak detectors, valves and fittings, as well as consulting and engineering for complete vacuum solutions.

Bringing a New Technology to an Established Market Segment

Atlas Copco recently released a new series of oil-sealed rotary screw vacuum pumps specifically designed for the rough vacuum utility market. Their new vacuum pumps, called the GHS VSD+ Series, boasts a unique technology that is relatively uncommon in the rough vacuum utility market, namely variable speed drive (VSD) controls. According to Jerry Geenen, Atlas Copco’s VP and Business Line Manager of the company’s Utility Vacuum Division in North America, there are not many, if any, companies that utilize VSD technology in their vacuum pump products.

The application of vacuum generating equipment has many uses in industry today but unfortunately, vacuum remains a bit of a mystery. The objective of this article is to provide answers to the most commonly asked questions for when vacuum is used to make, move or transform a product or item.

Two years ago, sales were picking up and we began operating six extrusion lines on most days. We had to bring in some portable chillers, to keep up, and we started looking at buying a larger cooling system. We wanted to get rid of the portable chillers and have room to grow into four more extrusion lines. The new system we looked at was a 100-ton system that would have cost us around $150,000 in capital and installation and with a larger monthly electricity bill.

We were about to buy the new 100-ton chiller when our President, Abe Gaskins said, “Hold-on, can we replace the Liquid Ring pumps with something that doesn’t consume water”? That was our “Eureka!” moment.

The roots of our company start with my father, Jan Dekker, who was heavily involved with oil-sealed liquid ring vacuum systems used in the gold mines of South Africa. This was in the mid-1970’s when gold prices were going up. Vacuum systems (in the mines) were optimized by improving vacuum levels using oil instead of water and by adding vacuum boosters.

Most printing facilities use vacuum for one process or another.  I recently spoke with Jesse Krivolavek, (a vacuum system efficiency specialist with IVS, Inc.) about his recent adventures in the world of printing.

Nearly all vacuum pumping technologies have some degree of sensitivity to inlet particulate contamination.  Since everything from a vacuum assisted production process ends up at the inlet of the vacuum pump, it is important to figure out how to best protect the pump in that particular environment.  In many cases, the expected service life of a vacuum pump comes down to how well it is protected from incoming contamination.