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Performance of Zr--Al getter pumps under transient load conditions

Journal Article · · J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A; (United States)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.572472· OSTI ID:6232105

Testing of the pump limiter concept in the Impurity Study Experiment (ISX-B) tokamak will involve the use of Zr--Al nonevaporable getter pumps capable of handling intermittent pulses of hydrogen and/or deuterium in the presence of carbon and oxygen impurity concentrations of several percent. To study the pumping characteristics under these conditions we have installed a Zr--Al cartridge pump in a vacuum chamber equipped with a fast gas puff feed system, a quadrupole residual gas analyzer, and a high speed ion gauge for transient pressure measurements. In this paper we report on the performance of the pump over a wide range of gas loads up to that sufficient to provide tens of monolayers of coverage of the getter surface. With flow rates up to 13 Torr l/s, pumping speeds for hydrogen were measured to be 1200--1500 l/s at pressures up to 10 mTorr. The measurements were carried out with gas pulses ranging in length from 50 ms to over 1 s and under conditions that provided a constant pumping speed for impurity species.

Research Organization:
Metals and Ceramics and Fusion Energy Divisions, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-84OR21400
OSTI ID:
6232105
Journal Information:
J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A; (United States), Journal Name: J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A; (United States) Vol. 2:4; ISSN JVTAD
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English