A vacuum pump system, a vacuum system, and a method for generating a vacuum

Abstract

A vacuum pump system 10 comprises a plurality of serially connected pump stages 12 arranged in parallel. An inlet 14 of each pump stage is connectable to a recipient. An outlet 26 of each pump stage is connected via a manifold 28 to an inlet 32 of an exhaust pump 30. The exhaust pump may be a dry pump, particularly a multistage roots pump, or a condenser pump, particularly a liquid ring pump. The pump stages and the exhaust pump may be arranged inside a housing. A pump control system and the exhaust pump may be inside a facility space of the housing. A controller 40 may control the fluid flow through and / or past the exhaust pump. A bypass 36 may be connected to the manifold to selectively bypass the exhaust pump and controlled by the controller. The controller may control a speed of the exhaust pump. Each pump stage may be a multistage pump stage comprising a plurality of pumps arranged in series, and may comprise a primary booster pump 20, particularly a mechanical booster pump, a secondary booster pump 22 and a backing pump 24, particularly a multistage dry pump. The vacuum pump system may be connected to a chamber of an extreme ultraviolet lithography vacuum system or a direct-air capture system. [Include figure 1]