Another Broken Helium Leak Detector
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
- In today's video, I will once again try to repair a helium leak tester.
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You repaired it, but you left the source of the problem untouched. The downward slope of the vacuum hose from the rotary pump to the turbo pump was a major design error from pfeiffer. I would suggest adding a longer hose with an U shape, where the bottom of the U is below the entry point of the turbo pump.
Or an actual separator, where accidental airflow cannot move the oil.
Accidental airflow would move oil to the roughing pump, not away from it.@@UncleKennysPlace
@nilamotk This may be one of those small design errors where repeated cycling pulls atomized oil and is built up in the valve block over time. The only thing that I don't understand is the clear feed tube from the roughing pump. Pulling oil could be due to a chamber where a vacuum is already present, the detector is added, and a valve is opened evacuating the detector.
surprisingly serviceable design, a lot of this sort of equipment is a complete nightmare to disassemble for service/repairs...
Exactly my thoughts! Especially for specialist equipment like this. I'd have to see what the replacement parts availability is like but outside proprietary components it's nice to see everything accessible by simple screws and enough space to get inside.
That said, these are both expensive to buy and expensive to manufacture, those precision parts aren't cheap, so I imagine Pfeiffer is more interested in provided repair/maintenance services than trying to convince labs to splash out 5 figures on new machines every couple years.
All by design. Intentional failure. Planned obsolescence. Etc
All part of the prevailing corporate infinite growth model.
I agree to the torx screw implementation accord of 2024
They should add a sensor to the bottom of the valve body to detect anything denser than a gas and set off an alarm that shuts down power to the mechanical section.
Your last hypothesis seems quite likely to me, because that's exactly what we do: when you have industrial coating machines, where the volume is measured in cubic meters, the toy pump inside the leak detector would take days to pull a reasonable vacuum.
What we do is running both the detector's and the coating machine's pumps until both reach the target vacuum, then close the machine's pump and finally open the valve to the detector
Neat gizmo but the base of the turbo pump should be higher than the roughing pump.Excellent fix there. It would help to keep the unit at an angle to prevent this issue in the future.
When you pulled the first solenoid, the valve block was still under a vacuum while off. Is this how its supposed to behave? You cant leave a vacuum on the output of a rotary vane pump with it off, as it absolutely will spew the contents of the crank case into the output line. Learned this the hard way with a vacuum degassing chamber, where I was letting something sit under vacuum overnight, so I turned the pump off. In the morning came back to all the pump oil the the degassing chamber. If the solenoid between the roughing pump and test port is normally open, that could be fine if the user doesnt put the unit away with a vacuum under the cap.
I believe it was due to valve 1 not working properly with all the oil inside. So venting it did not work.
7:29 Aha so THIS is where all these Pfeiffer roughing vacuum pumps comes from on Ebay. But that one here is special since it has the sight glass on the side which is not a normal place, interesting.
No spare parts after reassembly; very professional labelling and care!
Just fantastic a well done job. I love the way you give clear commentary and explanation. I'm a pensioner down here in New Zealand and am embarking on some DIY vacuum projects to coat telescope mirrors with aluminum. Your videos have been a great help and inspiration. Thanks
This is great thanks for sharing. It’s really helpful to see someone disassemble a complex and expensive machine 😅 And put it back together and get it working
Very nice video for anyone who wants to revise one of these and save themselves 10000 euro. I have one question though, I saw you using acetone and isopropyl alcohol in an ultrasonic bath, and it was my understanding that this is dangerous because the mist that is created can ignite. I always put the solvents and components I want to clean in a seperate container that I then place in the ultrasonic bath containing water. But maybe this is an unnecessary safety precaution, what do you think?
He mixes cesium and halogens for fun
You are right! It would have been better/more safe to use a secondary container.
Well done truly amazing work
I am jealous, such a nice addition to your lab! :) Been looking at older ASM detectors but even broken they fetch pretty penny :(
I will actually give it back to wissel vacuum. But it is indeed a very nice unit.
I've opened up older ul200 leak checkers, and while a lot of the internals are different I found it interesting that the detector head appears to be identical. At my work the most common failure we encounter with leak checkers is failed turbos, often due to operator error or sudden loss of vacuum due to part failures, but most of the time it appears to be simply the cost of running them nearly 24/7. I do know that the nice good sized Alcatel units run around 30k USD brand new (as management loves to remind us whenever we complain about our old ones needing to be replaced haha).
If they are using a secondary vacuum pump to pump down the system, the oil in the leak detector would probably not get degassed slowly as it normally would. The unit is under ambient pressure inside during the pump down until the valve is opened causing a sudden pressure drop. When they open the valve to the leak detector, the pressure inside drops suddenly, causing the oil to boil and froth over into the system. Another cause could be operator error from over filling the oil or shipping the unit with oil inside.
Not sure why this video performs so poorly, but don't be discouraged: it was a great video!
Thank you a lot! I'm glad you liked it!
Those slotted screws also annoyed me. They are so nineteenth century. And the giant speaker confuses me; does it speak, or only emit beeps?
"slotted"
Absolute legend.
Yup slotted screws are a bit surprising. Stuff like this usually uses hex or torx screws.
It only beeps.
Top tip, use brake cleaner to remove oil. It really works surprisingly well
mmm brake cleaner...
I never want to return back to oil lubricated pumps in vacuum systems. Dry pumps are just so much less of a headache.
The current rate for a comparable leak detector is roughly thrice your estimate, so equivalent to a small-medium sized car.
Yup about 35k or so for one like this. ❤
Good job! Could it have been stored on its side?
That might well have happened. Or even just rough handling during transport which made the oil slush about and spill over into the other parts of the vacuum system.
No, It was always in an upright position until it failed. But I had the same suspicion when I repaired the first leak detector that had the same failure.
21:50 This episode made me laugh 😆
MS came a long way, we weren't able to move them by an inch back in the day.
every time you upload i get jealous
After the assembly if you had some extra screws you did a good job.
If you needs spare parts for another leak detector I have a few valves whoch looks exactly the same and also the spectrometer which is very similar (just the spectrometer not the complete leak detector). I can give it for free if you want
Odd how common that failure mode is. I wonder if there are vacuum testers that have an oil separator, or an oil free roughing pump, to prevent that kind of thing.
Hello, you are making amazing content, I have been fascinated by vacuum technology for a long time. Your channel and everything on it really interested me. Could you please share with me some information about your vacuum chamber? I'm interested in as much as possible, pipe size, wall thickness...
Regards. @Advanced Tinkering
The cause of oil is almost certainly a problem with the anti-suckback valve in the vane pump itself when the pump is turned off. With this being a common failure, having either a solenoid controlled anti-suckback device, or relieving the vacuum on the roughing pump would fix this problem (with the second option likely being cheaper and easier to implement). Note: this would not expose the turbo pump to atmospheric pressures as the turbo outlet would still be sealed off from the valve block.
Has the unit been transported on its front?
No, it was always upright.
Love your videos! 🎉
Just curious but is that not a drain plug for the valve block at 18:52 there’s a hole that lines up with it in the housing 🤔 is this not a maintenance thing to regularly drain the unit?
Interesting 😊
17:50 I would at least take a look under the turbopump plate to see if any oil had gathered on the bottom so noting would get into the rotor section or that the oiling system had failed, by removing the bottom plate on the turbo since someone had already been there due to the ripped red sticker.
That's a good point. I will do that.
9:26 10k would be very cheap its closer to 20k - 30k dollar.
I was wondering about the internal surface of the "sexy red panel." Is that gray some sort of contamination, or what? Should it be cleaned?
I don't like at all the fact that the roughing pump doesn't has a isolation valve directly on the pump inlet. It might have in the valve body but that is not the right way to do it since oil can then be left in the hose and the next time the valve body open for the roughing pump it can draw in that oil. And also if the whole setup is tilted the wrong way oil will leak into the hose. Bad design as I see it.
that's a very emergency-services vehicle alert
3d print the shell. Paint it, fill with beicks to same wieght. Send it back to them saying it's fckd 😅
Where did that oil come from?
I would be surprised if these only cost $10K, I would guess closer to $50K
did you check the oil level on the vane pump?
Yes. It is pretty low and should be refilled. But still enough to run it.
❤❤
If you could share the service password, we would appreciate it.
I never found it out.
When make discord server??! 🙏
I thought about it but moderating it would be way too much work for me. And there are a lot of great servers already.
Can you also repair me
Unlike the helium leak detector, your flaws and defects make you even better.
(irony on) I always wanted to know how to fix one of these 😆(irony off) Even if I never have handled so complicated machines, it was interesting to watch. It's mind blowing how much high tech there is built into this machine.
I'm your subscriber Can you Do for me a movie projector mechanism please love for india ❤️
отличный ремонт, банально обслужил аппарат и назвал это ремонтом
Hi
I have to disagree about the curved front case panel being sexy. That design is horrible. Imagine designing a table for that thing to live on and you have to account for the excess depth created by that horrible outdated early 2000's bubbly curvaceous design. Some labs are tiny and every millimeter counts!!! Just make it a damn square box!
Half ass repair
Huh...?
Very cool. You're getting to be a real pro with this stuff. Figuratively and literally.
Just seen the title
Can it 'HAWK TUAH'
and if so, where can we get one?
dislike
Why didn't you resolve the source of the issue? It's just a matter of time until it'll fail again
Because I think the failure was caused by the operator. The last detector I repaired had the same failure and after fixing it, it never happened again.
Removing o-rings with a screwdriver is an absolute no-go. You'll scratch the sealing surface and induce a leak.. but since you didn't bother to use the correct wrench later on anyways, I don't think you have much experience as a mechanic anyways.
You are not wrong, but he never claimed to be a Laboratory Repair Technician.
Standard Practice for most sensitive Devices is to throw away the Seals after opening them once.
But as far as I know the Type of Seal on these Machines is barely attached and he even has a very sensitive Device to test for Leaks…
Spin it up and give it a Dose of Helium around all the openend Parts.
A Torque Wrench is more than suggested for Threads in Aluminum but he isn’t planning to open this once a Week.
And this comment could have written in a much less rude/snarky way...
It's almost as if the channel is called Advanced Tinkering rather than Highly Experienced Mechanic 🤔
Thankfully, those with more experience leave such helpful and informative comments like yours.