Scroll vacuum pump and method of maintenance including replacing a tip seal of a scroll vacuum pump

摘要

A scroll pump has a tip seal between an axial end of the scroll blade of one of stationary and orbiting plate scrolls of the pump and the plate of the other of the stationary plate and orbiting plate scrolls. The scroll pump may have a ballast gas supply system and use the operation of the ballast gas supply system to assess the condition of the tip seal. Alternatively, the scroll pump may have two pressure sensors that sense pressure at two locations spaced along a compression mechanism of the pump to assess the condition of the tip seal.