Busch has launched a full range of ATEX-compliant claw vacuum pumps and compressors. It is now possible to use vacuum pumps and compressors that compress using Mink claw technology, in ATEX-relevant applications. Mink vacuum pumps are approved under Directive 94/9/EG (ATEX 95) for Ex II 2(i)/2(o) G IIB3. This means that these vacuum pumps can be used for Category 2 inside the vacuum pump and in the outer environment. All materials in explosion group IIB3 can be discharged using them. The temperature class is dependent on the ultimate pressure and the size of the vacuum pump. Flame traps are not required.
Both Mink vacuum pumps and Mink compressors work under the tried and tested claw principle and compress with non-contact. The benefit of this for the operator is that no lubricant is needed and compression takes place completely oil free. Non-contact compression causes no wear and tear, and maintenance is therefore no longer required. No costs are incurred for wear parts or shutdown periods as a result of maintenance, and gone too are the costs associated with operating an oil-lubricated vacuum pump/ compressor such as oil change, new oil and disposal of used oil.
Depending on their size, Mink claw vacuum pumps can reach ultimate pressures of 60 to 150 hPa (mbar). The range can reach suction volumes from 60 to 300m3/hr. Mink claw compressors can achieve an overpressure of up to 2 bar. Like the vacuum pumps, they are available in eight different sizes with volumetric flows of 60 to 300m3/h.
This new generation of ATEX-compliant vacuum pumps and compressors are ideal machines for use in applications where explosive gases and gas mixtures in Category 2 and corresponding explosion group are transported or compressed, such as in the production and transport of biogas.
