Turbomolecular Pumps

These high performance pumps offer a particularly unforgiving environment for bearings. They are used in semiconductor production, chemical analysis and SEM, working in the 10-6 to 10-9mm Bar region.

Under vacuum conditions, the most important requirements for bearings are long, reliable life, reliability and high speed performance. They are expected to exceed 30,000 hours of life with just a single shot of lubricant and operate with very low vibration and noise.

To this end, special surface finish and harmonic limits are applied, while the geometry of the bearing is optimised to combat vibration and noise. Highly reliable, Barden bearings are designed to have infinite fatigue life where possible.

Added value design features for pump applications include:

• AMS5898 high-nitrogen steel for optimum performance and reliability
• High performance ceramic bearing design chosen to meet the performance and corrosion-resistance requirements
• High speed Small Ball Technology for improved pumping speeds
• Shielded angular contact design to guard against contamination ingress and prolong lubricant life
• Special internal design to maximise the in-application performance
• Special Barden "TMP Standard" internal finish for quieter running, longer life and high reliability

Emergency Touchdown Support Bearings

Magnetic bearing systems are used to support many different systems. If a complete electronics failure occurs, mechanical bearings protect the system from a total crash. Successfully controlling a shaft will often require a bearing that can accelerate from zero to 2.7 or higher ndm virtually instantly, even after many years of inactivity. In addition, the bearing system must then control the rotor and the very high radial and axial loads and shock loads. This initial shock loading is very high due to the gyroscopic forces generated.

Barden bearings have been developed for this application using ceramic balls and a full ball complement design, with AMS5898 materials to give exceptional performance and corrosion resistance. The bearing design is fully optimised for the maximum number of touchdowns.

View our complete overview of Barden's pump bearing range and applications

Turbomolecular pump bearing with extended inner ring and special shield arrangement.

Typical full complement hybrid ceramic pair of bearings for emergency touchdown applications.