Talk:Turbomolecular pump

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I'm not an experienced Wikipedia editor, and I have tried my best. I'm still not satisfied with the content in the page, but perhaps it has at least become better. I welcome anyone to make any changes they consider appropriate. SundarKanna 07:34, 25 December 2005 (UTC)

"Because of the relative motion of rotor and stator molecules preferable hit the lower side of the blades. Because the blade surface looks down, most of the scattered molecules will leave it downwards. The surface is rough, so no reflection will occur. A blade needs to be thick and stable for high pressure operation and as thin as possible and slightly bent for max compression." I just don't get this paragraph. --Gbleem 09:46, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

Blade thickness has nothing to do with high pressure operation - power consumption is so high when you get into pressures anywhere close to a millibar that the pump won't run at full speed. The blade thickness is set by considerations of fatigue, creep, manufacturing, and strength if the pump is accidentally vented to atmosphere. Pdf27 (talk) 14:11, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

This article states that "A turbomolecular pump is a type of vacuum pump, superficially similar to a turbopump,.." This is wrong. The correct clarification can be found in the article on turbopumps: "Turbomolecular pumps are also called turbopumps and are used to obtain high vacuum." 194.81.223.66 15:11, 3 August 2007 (UTC)Michael

My understanding is that turbomolecular pumps have flat blades designed to operate in particulate flow. (vacuum) Turbopumps have airfoil-shaped blades designed to operate in continuum flow. (typically high pressure.)--Yannick 17:07, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

Correct. Turbomolecular pumps stop working completely when pressure gets high enough to move into continuum flow - they only work in molecular flow. Pdf27 (talk) 14:11, 18 January 2008 (UTC)