Pre-Evacuation for Commercial/Domestic Refrigeration and Air Conditioning
The importance of pre-evacuation in refrigeration and A/C assembly process cannot be stressed enough since it has a direct correlation with the overall product quality. Please consult our knowledge base on Pre-Evacuation in our Process Technology Fundamentals section for more information.
VTech’s pre-evacuation equipment ranges from a single pump manual configuration to plant-wide pre-evacuation carousels with process data tracking. During the project design phase, we take into account specific parameters of the refrigeration circuit while reviewing the assembly line process, in order to identify the expected level of condensable and non-condensable gases present inside the circuit. Once we have established the minimum acceptable pre-evacuation time as well as the Takt time of the production line, we can establish the number of pre-evacuation units required. The next step is to decide on the lay-out.
In commercial refrigeration, where typical Takt time is longer, we tend to use multiple-pump solutions on carts that can be wheeled around as needed. This type of system is typically PLC-controlled and allows for pre-evacuation and vacuum decay leak test. In domestic refrigeration, the most typical layout is a carousel indexed according to the takt time of the process.
VTech works directly with the customer to set up the installation and provide maintenance training.
Pre-Evacuation System
VTech Pre-Vac 10
VTech’s Pre-Vac 10 Manual Pre-Evacuation System is designed to evacuate refrigeration circuits before refrigerant filling, meeting the requirements of outgassing and drying phases for HVAC/R production lines. VTech’s Pre-Vac 10 consists of a single vacuum pump, vacuum hose and manifold assembly with digital vacuum gauge, which displays the current vacuum level in microns, torr, etc. The Pre-Vac 10 can be realized in a stationary configuration, integrated with a carousel system(such as VTech DataVac), or on its own portable cart.
Its “manual” operation requires that the evacuation time be kept by the operator. If an automatic type system is required, then the VTech 40 is desirable; the VTech 40 systems include customizable presets so the operator does not have to monitor the cycle, as well as a vacuum decay leak test.
- Technical Data
Type Manual Vacuum Decay Test No Vacuum sensor Active Pirani Vacuum measurement range 1 x 104 ÷ 1 x 10-3 Pa (7.5 x 104 ÷ 7.5 x 10-1 µm) Vacuum measurement unit Pa, Torr, µm Hg Rotary pump ultimate vacuum 1 x 10-2 Pa (1 x 10-4 mbar, 7.5 x 10-2 µm Hg) # of Hose Pairs 1 Vacuum hose length 8 ft2.4 m # of Vacuum Pumps 1 User Interface Digital Vacuum Gauge Display Control N/A Vacuum Pump Size 10 m³/h6.8 cfm - Downloads
VTech Pre-vac 40
The VTech 40 Automatic Pre-Evacuation Systems perform an automatic pre-evacuation cycle, followed by a vacuum decay test, before signaling to the operator by the touch screen and stack light that the test is complete. Since the system is automatic, it is possible to use unit number-specific preset vacuum parameters (i.e. time and vacuum level) to perform this operation, taking away the need to monitor these factors manually. The pumps can perform either the same or different cycles simultaneously; unused pumps can be turned off.
The VTech 40 can be configured as follows:
-VTech 40-1 with one vacuum pump
-VTech 40-2 with two vacuum pumps
-VTech 40-3 with three vacuum pumps
-VTech 40-4 with four vacuum pumps
- Technical Data
Type Automatic Vacuum Decay Test Yes Vacuum sensor Vacuum Tranducer Vacuum measurement range 1 x 104 ÷ 1 x 10-3 Pa (7.5 x 104 ÷ 7.5 x 10-1 µm) Vacuum measurement unit Pa, Torr, µm Hg Rotary pump ultimate vacuum 1 x 10-2 Pa (1 x 10-4 mbar, 7.5 x 10-2 µm Hg) # of Hose Pairs 1-4 Vacuum hose length 8 ft2.4 m # of Vacuum Pumps 1-4 User Interface 6″ Monochrome Touchscreen Control PLC Vacuum Pump Size 10 m³/h6.8 cfm - Downloads
VTech Data-Vac
The Data-Vac system is designed for domestic and commercial refrigeration manufacturers who have a number of pumps from which to monitor and collect vacuum data for quality purposes. Data-Vac adds a high level of automation to any production line, re-ducing operator dependency.VTech’s Data-Vac Vacuum Data Management Sys-tem consists primarily of a RF-GATE wireless com-munication hub and TA-SAT PC Monitoring System, which work together to record and process vacuum data from a remote evacuation carousel via RS232 or wireless connection. The RF-GATE transmits the vacuum data being collected by the TA100/TA100RF vacuum gauges, and sends it to the TA-SAT system for monitoring, recording, trending, etc. The TA-SAT system includes and Industrial PC with Hard drive, keyboard, mouse, 15’’ LCD monitor, Windows XP, PC100 and integration of RF-GATE.
- Technical Data
Type Semi-automatic # of Hose Pairs up to 63 # of Vacuum Pumps 1 per pump - Downloads