A side post... 2 redesigned high vacuum traps

Besides doing synthetic chemistry, I am always looking for ways to improve workflow & efficiency. Sometimes that means looking at a piece of equipment and redesigning it. An example of this are this pair of high vacuum traps which are designed so one can empty them without dismantling one's system. They are also designed with greaseless ball joints (AKA: O-ring spherical joints) to reduce the time it takes to assemble a high vacuum system (most are designed with flat O-ring flanges which require very precise alignment to avoid leaks) and to reduce contamination due to vacuum grease.

Design 1: Dewer style

Here one has a Dewer to fill with either liquid nitrogen or dry ice/acetone and a receiver that can/should be submerged in liquid nitrogen. When one is ready to empty the trap, close off the pump, open the line to atmosphere and the disconnect the receiver - that simple and fast.

Design 2: Recirculating chiller design

In this design, one attaches a recirculating chiller (< -40 C) and the receiver is vacuum jacketed (one could also have a single-walled receiver submerged in dry/acetone or liquid nitrogen). This design has an outer vacuum jacket, a middle shell for the coolant, and the inner shell for the vacuum line. The inner surface of of the middle shell is a Friedrich style condenser body to force the coolant to circulate around the condenser. The hose connectors should either be barbed or threaded instead of smooth as shown.

The designs are copyrighted 2015. If you wish, I'll send you a copy of the designs (.dwg files - requires a CAD program to open) for personal use in exchange for a reasonable fee. If one would like to produce them for sale, please contact me for licensing arrangements.

The designs were done using VectorWorks, vectorworks.net