GNB Bugle
August
2012
Vacuum Excellence Defined
The Benefits of Vacuum Baffles
Kenneth Harrison, President & CEO
Baffles are well known for stopping the
oil from back streaming out of a diffusion pump, but there are many more
uses. First of all when an item is called
a baffle, it can mean a wide variety of
products. Other possible names are:
cryo-coils, cold heads, cryo-traps, liquid
nitrogen traps, diffusers, oil traps,
Meissner Coils and multi-coolant baffles.
vacuum chamber. Once the water starts boiling it is difficult to create a higher vacuum
One of the most important uses of a baffle is until the water is evacuated. Because the
to reduce the vacuum chamber pump down evaporation/pumping process is relatively
time. Between 1x10-3 Torr to 1x10-8 Torr, the slow, it often makes sense to introduce a
major residual gas in a vacuum chamber is
cold surface that will condense/freeze the
water vapor. Cryo-coils become cold very
moisture in the air and free the pump from
quickly, thus they can rapidly remove the
pumping the water vapor. The larger the
water vapor from the system. Consequently, surface area and the colder the surface, the
they can reduce the pump down time by as faster the water vapor will be removed. The
much as 75%, and they are much less expen- table below shows the temperature at which
sive than a vacuum pump. As the pressure
90% of the water vapor is trapped in a sysdecreases in a vacuum chamber, the cham- tem. The word “trap” simply means that the
ber will quickly reach the partial pressure of surface is cold enough that molecules lose so
the water vapor in the chamber. Perhaps
much energy that they stay on the cold suryou have seen that a glass of water will boil face a long time. It does not necessarily
at room temperature when it is placed in a
mean the molecule is frozen solid. For examAvg Cryosurface ple if a process needs to
Desired Pressure Vacuum
operate in the rough vacuTemp Needed
um range (1x10-3 Torr), a
Torr
mbar
ºC
ºF
cryo-coil with a temperature
5 x 100
6.7 x 100
-25.4
-13.72
0
of -110 °F can rapidly pull
1 x 10
1.3 x 100
-40.8
-41.44
the water vapor out of the
2 x 10-1
2.7 x 10-1
-54.3
-64.74
5 x 10-2
6.7 x 10-2
-64.8
-84.64
chamber and help to quickly
1 x 10-2
1.3 x 10-2
-75.8
-104.44
bring the chamber down to
2 x 10-3
2.7 x 10-3
-85.6
-122.08
that pressure.
-4
-4
5 x 10
1 x 10-4
2 x 10-5
5 x 10-6
1 x 10-6
2 x 10-7
5 x 10-8
1 x 10-8
2 x 10-9
6.7 x 10
1.3 x 10-4
2.7 x 10-5
6.7 x 10-6
1.3 x 10-6
2.7 x 10-7
6.7 x 10-8
1.3 x 10-8
2.7 x 10-9
-93.4
-101.6
-109.1
-115.1
-121.5
-127.5
-132.2
-137.3
-142.1
-136.12
-150.88
-164.38
-175.18
-186.70
-197.50
-205.96
-215.14
-223.78
As the temperature is decreased even further, the
cryo-coil can condense other gasses in addition to water vapor. At a temperature
of 100K (-280 °F) all hydroContinued on page
6
The Benefits of
Vacuum Baffles
1
GNB’s Big City
2
GNB’s Littlest
Addition
3
Vacuum Chamber
Failure Mechanisms
3
Traveling to Show
What We’ve Got
4
We’re Going to
Disneyland
5
GNB Funnies
5
Meet Kirk Carter
6
The name of this newsletter
is GNB Bugle. When we
win a large order at GNB,
we are excited. So excited,
that our expert trumpeter
(and human resources person), Amy Long, plays Reveille on a bugle over our
loud speaker system. However, many of our representatives, stakeholders and customers cannot hear the exciting news and share our
revelry. This newsletter is
another method of communication and announcement,
and thus it is aptly named
GNB Bugle.
GNB Bugle
Vacuum Excellence Defined
Page 2
Sacramento: GNB’s Big City to the North
M. Kevin Mandeville Jr., Design Engineer
An advantage of doing business with GNB, aside from our
high quality products and services, is our fantastic location. Sacramento is an excellent city for visiting, living in,
and working around. Whether your passion is food, entertainment, history, or nature, Sacramento and the surrounding area has it all.
A good first stop for visiting Sacramento is Old Sacramento
State Historic Park. The second oldest part of town, after
Sutter’s Fort, Old Sacramento is part historical museum,
part boutique shopping spree, and an all-around great
place for food and entertainment. At various times of the
year, you can see cowboys during the Gold Rush Days, various cultural events like the Pacific Rim Festival, or Raley’s
Theatre of Lights, a Christmas celebration with a tree lighting and a live recitation of “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” On Memorial
Day Weekend, they
hold the Sacramento
Music Festival, where
you can enjoy jazz,
swing, blues, zydeco,
rockabilly, bluegrass,
and more. Year
round, the park also
offers the amazing
California State Rail-
road Museum, the Delta King riverboat, and walking tours
of the area. The Old Sacramento area is a great location
for families, couples, or groups of fun seekers.
In addition to Old Sacramento, there are lots of tourist
opportunities that show that Sacramento is a city of history. The California State Capitol building is open to tours,
and walking from the Capitol building one can view the
amazing architecture of the city, from the Tower Bridge to
City Hall, several amazing places of worship, and a very
impressive downtown. More modern buildings are worth
Continued on page 4
GNB Bugle
Vacuum Excellence Defined
Page 3
GNB’s Littlest Addition
By: Colleen Sackett, Receptionist
Mariana Rodriguez
Born: May 9, 2012 at 11:44 am
8 lbs 11 oz
20”
Vacuum Chamber Failure Mechanisms
By: Ken Harrison, President & CEO
An inadequately designed vacuum chamber will commonly
fail in 3 ways: excessive deflection, buckling or cyclical
fatigue. Deflection can be caused by temperature, pressure and other loading conditions, and it usually will cause
doors and other components to start leaking. After welding and machining, steel and stainless steel may have residual stresses which will cause warpage over time—
especially if the chamber is exposed to thermal cycling.
This can be eliminated by: a good chamber design, closely
controlled manufacturing processes and in some cases
either thermal or vibratory stress relieving will be required.
The third common failure mechanism is cracking of welds
due to cyclical fatigue. Rarely is the yield stress an issue
with vacuum chambers. However, stress risers that are
caused by poor weld preparations, poor weld penetrations, inadequate weld bead sizes and poorly designed
weld joints will lead to cracked welds after the chamber
has undergone a number of vacuum cycles. Not long ago
a customer called GNB and complained that their chambers were cracking, and they had numerous vacuum leaks.
After asking about the chambers’ serial numbers, I learned
that every chamber with a GNB nameplate on it was working great, it was only the “identical” chambers with no
nameplates that had the problems. With a little investigaBecause a vacuum chamber is a thin walled vessel and the tion I learned that GNB designed and built the first champressure is from the outside, buckling must always be con- bers, but the customer sent the same drawings to a differsidered. An empty aluminum soda can easily hold the
ent “reputable” manufacturer to save money for the addiweight of a 150 lb person standing on it. However, if there tional chambers. These looked identical to the first, but
is one dent, wrinkle or small deflection, the can will colwithin two years they had
lapse. Vacuum chambers can fail
numerous fatigue cracks bewith a similar mechanism, and
cause good vacuum welding
no chamber is manufactured as
practices were not followed.
perfectly as it was drawn by the
CAD designer. The difference
GNB has been designing and
between success and failure can
building vacuum chambers
be one constraint, one loading
for 44 years. The lowest inipoint or even one dent. Theretial price is rarely the lowest
fore, the safe choice is to puroverall cost. Give us a chance
chase only from a manufacturer
and let us show you how we
who has the engineering and
can provide the best overall
manufacturing expertise specifivalue.
cally for vacuum chambers.
This large, cylindrical chamber with domed ends saves materials
because the shape is very strong.
GNB Bugle
Vacuum Excellence Defined
Page 4
Traveling to Show What We’ve Got
By: Sheryl McCarthy, Executive Assistant
Every year, two of our most prominent shows –
the Vacuum Tech Expo in Moscow and the Society of Vacuum Coaters TechCon, become increasingly beneficial to GNB. Not only are these
events a great opportunity for our customers to
see our recently revamped product line, but two
of GNB’s key contacts, attend these shows as
well. Our President, Ken Harrison, and our World
-wide Sales Manager, Thomas Dobler, are frequent fixtures at our shows. They don’t attend
these shows empty handed either; they bring
examples of our products to share with show
attendees. We truly believe in the superior quality of our products and our cutting edge designs,
so much so that we’re compelled to boast about
it at every opportunity, especially at shows. We are the
are engineers so they are qualified to help brainstorm and
ones with the seven foot tall stainless steel display. Even
troubleshoot our customers’ existing and prospective sysbetter, both, our President and World-wide Sales Manager tem predicaments and proposed enhancements. Because
Continued on page 6
GNB’s Big City (cont. from page 2)
the couch and use a low set cushioned table. The food is
sive downtown. More modern buildings are worth seeing excellent, and if you dine at the right time you will be
as well. The US Bank Tower has a series of LED lights on
treated to a great belly dancing show. A personal favorite
the roof that put on a show nightly that is visible from the restaurant is DeVere’s Irish Pub, which serves excellent
Irish food, quality drinks, and has a Whiskey Club. Some
nearby freeways.
Sacramento Restaurants are famous on a national scale,
Sacramento is located where the American and Sacramen- such as Biba. Biba is a well-established Italian eatery, and
to Rivers meet. This gives locals and tourists alike a huge
the owner has appeared on TLC and Discovery Channel,
range of options for water based fun, from fishing for
and written a few cookbooks. The city is also home to sevstripers to jet skiing, and from biking the 23 mile long
eral breweries and their associated restaurants, like the
American River Parkway Trail (which runs from Old Sacra- River City Brewery in the Capital Mall. Of course, with Sacmento all the way to Folsom!) to barbequing in parks
ramento being the River City, there are several restaurants
along the bike trail. Further down the river is the Delta,
that take advantage of riverside real estate. The Virgin
which is a very unique area in its own right when it comes Sturgeon and Crawdads off of the Garden Highway are
to fishing, boating, and nature watching.
both floating restaurants where the riverside seating is
exactly that. You can enjoy a tasty
To replenish yourself after visiting
meal and a beautiful view of the
attractions, you ought to make one
river while you eat.
more stop at one of our many local
restaurants. Sacramento is a foodie
If you are considering doing busiparadise. We have many types of
ness with GNB or plan on visiting us
cuisine to satisfy your palate.
soon, please feel free to take some
Among the more interesting places
time and visit our region. For more
in town, we have the Marrakech
information on what to do in SacraMoroccan Restaurant, which is decmento, check out
orated internally to look like a tent
www.cityofsacramento.org/
in Morocco. You sit on the floor or
visiting_sac.htm. ■
GNB Bugle
Vacuum Excellence Defined
Page 5
We’re Going to Disneyland
By: Mel Sattler, Quality Manager
It’s called the happiest place on earth. It’s the
place where dreams come true. It’s the perfect place for a celebration. When the California Awards for Performance Excellence wanted
to recognize their 2011 award winners, there
was no better place to do it than Disneyland!!!
silly little mouse into a world class organization?
The annual California Council for Excellence
Best Practice Seminar and Awards Luncheon
was held on May 1st through 3rd in Anaheim,
California. It was attended by two individuals
Disneyland operates under Walt Disney’s four
from GNB: Russ Hedman and Mel Sattler. The
keys to success: Safety, Show, Courtesy and
luncheon provided an opportunity for networkEfficiency. During my latest visit to Disneyland, I would
ing and a stage to be recognized for receiving the Prospechave argued the corporate values were: long lines, overtor Award for Performance Excellence. The Conference
priced food and slightly condescending ride operators.
consisted of numerous “Best Practice” seminars from high
However, somewhere between “It’s a Small World” and
performing organizations. During the seminars, individuals
“Dumbo” I looked into my son’s eyes and realized I would- described a process or project which they undertook and
n’t want to be anywhere else. I began to see Walt’s vision. achieved world class results. One presentation was from
How did he do it? How did Walt Disney deploy these four Allen Fazio, the VP Global Business Technology Strategy for
keys to all of his employees? How was he able to turn a
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. He shared examples, principals, and “best practices”
that have been the core of
Disney’s success.
As an organization committed to excellence, GNB
makes it a point to learn
from, and network with,
world class organizations.
Understanding how other
organizations achieve excellence provides numerous
benefits for GNB.
GNB Bugle
Vacuum Excellence Defined
Page 6
our customers’ success, because when we strengthen our
customers’ market foothold, GNB thrives. Visit us at any of
our products are displayed at the shows, they can effecour upcoming shows: SSCAVS at UCLA (Oct 3), BNL User
tively demonstrate and explain which GNB products and
Meeting at Berkeley, CA (Oct 5-6), ITA in Georgia (Oct 7customization options would be most beneficial to our
10), Ebeam in Nevada (Oct 14-16), Space Simulation in
customers.
Maryland (Nov 5-8). Stop by our booth, check out our
equipment, probe us for ideas, and get some free stuff.
This year was GNB’s most successful year yet at the VTE
You’ll walk away well informed and armed to tackle your
and SVC shows. Our goal at these shows is to help increase
next big project. ■
Traveling to Show (cont. from page 4)
Baffles (cont. from page 1)
carbons will condense, at 20K (-424 °F) most
of the air will condense and at 4K (-452 °F)
all gasses except helium will condense. This
is the process that a cryo-pump uses to create a vacuum. Cryopumps using liquid helium are so cold that they will condense all
gasses except helium.
A second common use of a baffle is to prevent the process from being contaminated
by the outside environment. During the
rough vacuum pumping range the density of
the molecules is high enough to cause a
“wind” that carries all contamination toward
the vacuum pump. However, in the high
vacuum range, the vacuum system enters
the molecular flow range. Here the air molecules freely wander in all directions until
they are captured by a cryopump, turboump
or diffusion pump. In high vacuum, it is possible for oil and other molecules to back
stream into the system. Some turbo pumps
lubricate their bearings with oil and diffusion pumps use
oil to create the vacuum. A baffle can be used to prevent
back streaming. Diffusion pump oil condenses at 86 °F, so
if a gaseous oil molecule contacts a cool surface long
enough to cool to this temperature, it will be trapped and
not enter into the process. A properly designed trap can
prevent 99.9% of the contamination from entering.
The third use of a baffle is to protect vacuum components
from being contaminated by the process that is occurring
in the vacuum chamber. A common vacuum process is
vapor deposition. The word deposition means that a substance changes from a gas to a solid without becoming a
liquid (opposite of sublimation). This is very useful because a chamber that is filled with a gaseous material can
directly deposit a layer of that material onto a solid sur-
face. The side effect of this is that the material will also be deposited on all exposed
surfaces. An optically dense baffle is an
effective method to prevent deposition on
unwanted vacuum components. GNB’s
chevron style baffles are designed so that
they are optically dense and a gas molecule
will need to change directions (bounce) 5
times in order to make their way past.
Thus the material will be deposited on the
cold baffle and the vacuum component
(such as a turbopump) will be protected.
When the deposition builds up on the surface of the baffle, it can easily be removed
and cleaned.
The fourth use of a baffle is to act as a heat
shield. Cryopumps must be very cold in
order to be effective. If the process inside
the chamber is hot, then a cryopump that
is exposed to those temperatures will not
work well. The solution is to place a chilled
shield in front of the pump to block the
heat. Typically a louver style of baffle is
used for this application because they can block the line-of
-sight radiation but do not reduce the pumping speed as
much as a chevron style baffle.
The final use of a baffle is for diffusing gasses. In some
vacuum chambers the flow of air or other gasses should be
controlled during pump down and venting of the chamber.
A diffuser is a baffle that channels the air. Normally they
are not chilled, but are only used to direct the air.■
The power of imagination
makes us infinite
John Muir
GNB Bugle
Vacuum Excellence Defined
Page 7
Meet Kirk Carter, Inside Sales Manager
By: Amy Long, HR Manager
What city were you born in?
San Francisco, CA.
2. Where did you grow up and
what was it like there?
San Diego, It was hot, I was a
beach kid until I was about 13. I
moved to the Bay Area during
my High School years and that
was like living in paradise.
3. As a child, did you have pets?
Yes, I had a few dogs and many
fish. I believed every fish or dog
deserved a great owner.
4. What did you enjoy doing as a child?
As a kid I liked body surfing at the beach. Later on when I reached
14, I got into motorcycles and started racing motocross when I
turned 15. I broke my hand at the first race: thereafter, it was 20
years of duct tape and sawing casts off my body parts so I could
race again.
I’ve never really pulled pranks on people, but I do try to lighten up the day and provide some comic relief to our hectic
lives.
11. Are you married? Any children?
Yes, I am married to Seung Kwan and I have 4 boys who are
basically taller than me now!
12. What are some favorites? (color, food, ice cream, book,
movie, song, sport, etc)
Yellow, green, pizza, chocolate shakes, Austin Powers movies,
Will Farrell movies, as far as sports goes I love golf.
13. Is there something you wish you could do over again?
There are a couple things I wish I could do over again, but
these will stay buried deep in my soul.
14. What things do you find yourself doing that you said you'd
"never" do?
NOTHING—I do only what I say I will.
15. Tell me about a memorable moment in your life; a time you
will never forget.
Meeting my wife at her restaurant. Best $5.00 I ever invested in a
chili dog.
5. What is your favorite outdoor activity?
The last 10 years I’ve become a golf addict. I find it hard to go
16. What great historical events you have experienced in your
more than a few days without swinging a club. I have dedicated
my sporting life to shooting par and documenting this experience. lifetime?
1970 Beatles #1, 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant accident, 1989
6. What were some of your first jobs?
Berlin Wall dismantled, 1990 Persian Gulf War, 1991 Desert
I had several jobs growing up. I drove a water truck and I was a
Storm (liberation of Kuwait), 1992 Bill Clinton 42nd president,
mechanic for a while, purchasing manager, eventually I found a
1999 Kirk Carter named Operations Manager GNB Corp, 2001
job working in manufacturing and found that I was a natural leadWorld Trade Center topples from terrorist attack, 2003 Operation
er. In short time I was in charge of Operations and I enjoyed many
Iraqi Freedom, 2008 Barack Obama 44th president.
successful years as an Operations Manager prior to coming to
17. What is something that you are really proud of and why?
GNB.
My life is full of ridiculous moments that created many stories,
7. What did you like to do in your free time?
some funny, some painful. I am proud to be a part of my kid’s
There are three things I like doing nowadays: my wife and I take
lives, to guide them as best I can. I am proud to be learning and
short trips to Vegas each year and we love to see shows, I also
growing at this age, and I am proud of the husband I have bespend time with my kids teaching golf or enjoying movies, and in
come. I am proud to have guided a team of great people for 12
my spare time I hit this small white ball around for 4 hours.
years in the trenches providing awesome products.
8. What were some of the crazy fads you went through?
18.What are the goals you are still working toward?
In high school we had major bell-bottom pants and I let my hair
I will continue to find someone doing something right! But in the
grow so long it was ridiculous. At 16 I spent time at a training
meantime, I will lower my handicap in golf!
camp and physical fitness took over my life for about 12 years; I
19. When people look back at your life, how do you want to be
was obsessed with fitness. I was a completely different person
remembered?
back then, but overall nothing too crazy . . .
I’m working on that. My best days are ahead of me and thanks to
9. Did you admire a famous person? What made them admirable?
my friends and family I have found the Fountain of Youth.
As a young motorcycle racer I admired a Belgian named Roger
Suggestions/Feed back:
DeCoster. He was a world champion and he showed the world
how to turn a rough and tumble sport like motocross into a reAre there any article topics or product lines from past Bugle Newsspected and athletic sport. Nowadays I find something in just
letters that you would like to read more about? Or, are there any
about everyone to admire and I look for ways to inspire others.
hot topics you want us to discuss in the Bugle? Send your sugges10. What mischievous prank did you pull on someone and how did tions to Sheryl McCarthy at [email protected]. Maybe
it affect you?
you’ll find your suggestions in the next Bugle.
(916) 395-3363 Fax
GNB Corp
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Channel
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