Vacuum Pump Leak Rate Test Unit Design

Designed and developed a test procedure and test setup to measure the leak rate of different vacuum pumps.

A project completed while working in the Vacuum Group at TRIUMF, Canada's Particle Accelerator Centre.

Since vacuum pumps are not perfectly sealed, some of the pumps in use were leaking radioactive gases from the beamline. It was then important to measure the actual amount of gas being leaked by these pumps.

Using a sealed test chamber and standard process, many vacuum pumps were tested for their leak effective leak rate. The pumps with the lowest leak rates were recommended for use in sections of the beamline that saw more human traffic.