IMPROVED OIL FREE SCROLL VACUUM PUMP
The invention relates specifically to a simplified and subsequently improved method to produce a scroll type vacuum pump that is capable of achieving vacuum pressures below 1 torr through the placement of at least one dynamic orbital vacuum seal (32) between the two scroll halves (22 and 23) at the outside diameter of the scroll spirals to prevent atmospheric gas from entering. Prior to this invention, in order to achieve vacuum pressures less than 1 torr with a scroll pump it has been necessary to either seal the two scroll halves with a large diameter metal bellows (4) that accommodates the required orbital travel or to locate the orbiting scroll plate or plates and the components that convert the rotary drive to the required orbital motion inside the vacuum space with a dynamic vacuum seal (14) on the rotary drive shaft (17). Both ot these designs have been expensive to produce, limiting the application of scroll technology in the vacuum industry. The invention further relates to a method to produce an equally economical scroll type vacuum pump (Fig. 16) with a dynamic orbital vacuum seal that is capable of achieving pressures below .01 torr.