Engineering For Science

The Zephyr Vacuum Pump has been designed for use with vacuum beds and dispensing tip drying systems in laboratories. It is an oil-free pump.

Vacuum beds must provide sufficient airflow to hold materials in place without generating high vacuums which can damage the materials. For example, this is particularly important with fragile membranes used in rapid diagnostic manufacturing. When more than one piece of material must be held on the vacuum bed, it is important to maintain the hold on the first piece of material while the second and subsequent pieces are put in place.
The Zephyr Vacuum Pump has been specially designed with these characteristics in mind. It has enough airflow to hold materials on one part of the bed while other holes on the bed are still open. This high airflow is also important when open materials such as coarse glass fibre are used. Note that high airflow and high vacuum do not go together and these pumps do NOT generate high levels of vacuum. Remember that the total force holding the material is proportional to the strength of the vacuum multiplied by the total area, so if the area is large, the vacuum only needs to be small.
The pump has a vacuum limiter (not a pressure regulator) so that when all the holes of a vacuum bed are closed, the vacuum does not become strong enough to damage the material by creating holes or dimples. The high airflow is needed so that the material is pulled down onto the vacuum bed.

Dispensing systems for diagnostic manufacturing, genomics and proteomics use fine tips where the volume of water left on the tips after washing is the same order of magnitude as the very small droplets that are dispensed. This residual wash water must be removed before the next dispensing cycle in order to maintain accuracy. Drying these tips with high airflow avoids touching the tips which could cause damage or inconsistent drying.