Vacuum technology
Roots / Booster
Multiplies the speed of a backing pump.
Schematic section, not to scale
How it works
Roots (rotary lobe) vacuum boosters sit on top of a backing pump to increase pumping speed at lower pressures. Two lobed rotors turn without contact, moving large volumes of gas.
Twin lobes rotate in opposite directions and transfer gas from inlet to outlet without internal compression. The backing pump handles the exhaust pressure.
Performance range
Used from roughly 100 mbar down to ~10⁻³ mbar when combined with suitable backing pumps
Typical industry range. Exact capability is model specific, see each model’s curve.
In the catalogue · 179 models from 16 manufacturers
- Pumping speed
- 115 – 54,200 m³/h · 164 models
- Weight
- 25 – 7,020 kg · 142 models
- Motor power
- 0.4 – 300 kW · 135 models
- Max. vacuum
- 10 – 800 mbar · 100 models
- Ultimate pressure
- 0.0007 – 130 mbar · 25 models
- Noise level
- 56 – 82 dB(A) · 24 models
- Max. pressure
- 0.025 – 0.08 bar · 6 models
Spread of each model’s own rated figure, as published by its manufacturer.
Advantages & tradeoffs
- Very high speed for its size
- Dry pumping chamber
- Extends a backing pump's useful range
- Requires a backing pump
- Limited differential pressure
- Bypass or VSD control often required
Best applications
Common in Semiconductor, Chemical, Automotive, Metalworking, Oil + Gas, Power Generation.
Maintenance
Gear oil, bearing and seal service, bypass valve checks.
Energy characteristics
Specific-energy comparisons (kW per unit of flow at your operating point) appear here as sourced performance curves are added. Until then, compare models directly on the Performance Map.
Open the Performance Map