[TheForge] Fwd: fridge compressor? GONE OT A BIT... :)

[James Binnion]

Andy

The one with no moving parts is called an "oil diffusion pump" it 
works by boiling a low vapor pressure oil and directing the vapor 
through a series of jets that are aimed at the wall of the pump the 
outside of which is cooled by water or air. The oil vapor condenses 
on the wall and falls back down to the boiler. If a molecule of oil 
hits a gas molecule on its trip from the jet to the wall it will drag 
it along to the wall and down into the boiler at the boiler there is 
a connection for that mechanical pump that is also cooled so that no 
oil vapor will be pulled out but the gas molecules that collect down 
at the bottom in the boiler will eventually be sucked out by the 
mechanical pump when there are enough of them collected down there to 
start acting more like a gas rather than a bunch of individual 
molecules floating around in a lot of nothing.
-- 
Jim Binnion