Modeling and model based fault diagnosis of dry vacuum pumps in the semiconductor industry

Vacuum technology is ubiquitous in the high tech industries and scientific endeavors. Since vacuum pumps are critical to operation, semiconductor manufacturers desire reliable operations, ability to schedule downtime, and less costly maintenance services. To better cope with difficult maintenance issues, interests in novel fault diagnosis techniques are growing. This study concerns model based fault diagnosis and isolation (MB-FDI) of dry vacuum pumps in the semiconductor industry. Faults alter normal operation of a vacuum pump resulting in performance deviations, discovered by measurements. Simulations using an appropriate mathematical model with suitably chosen parameters can mimic faulty behavior. This research focuses on the construction of a detailed multi-stage dry vacuum pump model for MB-FDI, and the development of a simple and efficient FDI method to analyze common incipient faults such as particulate deposition and gas leak inside the pump. The pump model features 0-D thermo-fluid dynamics, scalable geometric representations of Roots blower, claw pumps and inter-stage port interfaces, a unified pipe model seamlessly connecting from free molecular to turbulent regimes, sophisticated internal leakage model considering true pump geometry and tribological aspects, and systematic assembly of a multi-stage configuration using single stage pump models. Design of a simple FDI technique for the dry vacuum pump includes staged fault simulations using faulty pump models, parametric study of faulty pump behaviors, and design of a health indicator based on classification. The main research contributions include the developments of an accurate multi-stage dry pump model with many features not found in existing pump models, and the design of a simple MB-FDI technique to detect and isolate the common faults found in dry vacuum pumps. The proposed dry pump model can pave the way for the future development of advanced MB-FDI methods, also performance improvement of existing dry vacuum pumps. The proposed fault classification charts can serve as a quick guideline for vacuum pump manufactures to isolate roots causes from faulty symptoms.