LAUSR

Abstract The cam ring profile greatly determines the pumping performance of the sliding vane vacuum pump (SVVP). In order to improve the performance of the SVVP such as increasing the suction volume under the condition of constant cylinder diameter, a novel type of SVVP with three chambers, called three-chamber sliding vane vacuum pump (TSVVP), was proposed, in which the sinusoidal spiral was used to generate the cam ring profile. A geometric model of the novel three-chamber cam ring profile was established. The design of the proposed TSVVP was explored after studying effects of the cam ring profile on the pumping speed and built-in volume ratio. Furthermore, the proposed TSVVP was compared with the conventional single-chamber and double-chamber SVVPs in terms of suction volume and volumetric utilization ratio. A prototype of the proposed STVVP was developed and experimental tests were carried out, which indicated that the results calculated by the proposed model were accorded with the experimental data. The study results show that the novel TSVVP is feasible and is also superior to the conventional SVVP with the single-chamber or double-chamber in terms of the pumping speed. The obtained data suggest key parameter values for the design of the novel TSVVP.