Miniature, Low Power Vacuum Pump for Trace Contaminant Monitors

With the ever increasing complexity and duration of International Space Station (ISS) missions, along with planned lunar and Martian missions, the need for more advance capabilities for monitoring the astronaut crew environment becomes ever more critical. Accompanying this is an unprecedented need for reduction in instrumentation size, weight, and power consumption. Recent advances in sensor technology have led to the development of miniature analytical instruments. However, many of these systems require a means of producing a vacuum with pressures under 1 Torr to either supply a rough vacuum or to back a high vacuum pump such as a molecular drag pump or turbo pump. Unfortunately, currently available rough vacuum pumps remain large, heavy, power hungry and unreliable. Lynntech proposes to develop a long-life, robust, low-power, miniature rough vacuum pump for trace gas contaminant monitors.

Many portable instruments used for scientific and engineering applications require a means of producing a vacuum with pressures under 1 Torr. Such instruments include mass spectrometers, cooled infrared sensing instruments, microwave spectrometers using Stark cells, instruments containing unsealed low-pressure lasers, trace gas concentration systems, leak detectors, etc. In these instruments the vacuum pump tends to have the greatest mass, volume, power consumption and cost penalties. A lightweight, low power, miniature vacuum roughing pump is expected greatly expand the market for portable analytical instruments.

The need for vacuum pumps to be of small mass and volume and require low power is obvious for space and planetary exploration missions. With recent advances in sensor technology leading to the development of miniature mass spectrometers and other analytical instruments needing high vacuum, there will be many applications for a highly efficient, robust, long-life vacuum pump in future NASA missions.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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