Gas-Deflector Plate Layout for Differential Pumping Gas Jets
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Solution Overview
Problem
In high-flux, continuously operated particle accelerators, the natural flow of high-pressure gas from the target towards lower pressure regions causes thermal stresses and inefficiencies, leading to increased charge exchange, scattering, and reduced focusing ability due to gas jets traversing adjacent pumping stages, which are not effectively managed by existing vacuum window approaches or coaxial differential pumping systems.
Innovation Solution
A gas-deflector plate with a channel shaped and/or angled to direct jetting gas at an offset angle from the vertical axis, combined with a jet-deflector component, is positioned between higher and lower pressure regions to deflect and redirect the gas jet, reducing its coherence and mass transport to lower pressure sections, thereby reducing pumping demands and maintaining pressure differentials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If vacuum windows are used to separate target material from high vacuum environment, then particle transmission is enabled, but thermal stresses become unmanageable in high-flux continuous operation
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the vacuum window entirely from the system. Instead of using a window to separate the target chamber from the vacuum beamline, the patent employs differential pumping stages that directly interface with the target aperture, extracting the problematic thermal stress element from the system while maintaining the necessary pressure separation.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces differential pumping stages as intermediary components between the high-pressure target chamber and the high-vacuum beamline. These intermediate pumping stages act as mediators that gradually transition the pressure gradient, eliminating the need for a direct thermal coupling through a vacuum window.
2Reliability
If coaxial differential pumping systems are used to combat gas flow, then pressure ratios can be maintained, but gas jets coherently traverse adjacent pumping stages causing charge exchange and scattering
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces the symmetric coaxial aperture arrangement with an asymmetric configuration. The deflector plate is positioned at an angle relative to the beam axis, and the aperture geometry is deliberately non-coaxial. This asymmetry causes the gas jet to deflect away from the beam path, preventing coherent traversal through pumping stages while maintaining pressure differentials.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention moves the gas jet control from a one-dimensional coaxial alignment to a multi-dimensional asymmetric arrangement. By introducing angular offset and lateral displacement, the gas flow is redirected into different spatial dimensions, causing it to diverge from the beam axis and reducing its harmful effects on beam quality.
3Productivity
If larger apertures are used in differential pumping stages, then beam transport efficiency improves, but gas jet coherence increases causing more charge exchange
Solution Approach 1:
The invention employs asymmetric aperture geometry and deflector plate positioning that decouples aperture size from gas jet coherence. The asymmetric arrangement ensures that even with larger apertures for improved beam transport, the gas jet is deflected at angles that prevent coherent traversal, thereby maintaining low charge exchange while allowing efficient beam transport.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively reduces gas transport to lower pressure sections, decreases pumping requirements, and enhances the efficiency of differential pumping systems by allowing larger apertures or lower base pressures, improving the overall performance and effectiveness of the accelerator.
Implementation Method 1
jetting gas moving through the channel from the higher pressure region to the lower pressure region
Data Source
AI summary
Provided herein are articles of manufacture, systems, and methods employing a gas-deflector plate in low to ultra-high vacuum systems that use differential pumping (e.g., gas-target particle accelerators, mass spectrometers, and windowless delivery ports). In certain embodiments, the gas-deflector plate is configured to be positioned between higher and lower pressure regions in a pressurized system, wherein the gas-deflector plate has a channel therethrough shaped and/or angled such that jetting gas moving through the channel enters the lower pressure region at an angle offset from the vertical axis of the gas-deflector plate and/or the channel. In other embodiments, a jet-deflector component is employed such that the jetting gas strikes such jet-deflector component and is re-directed in another direction.