Abstract: In one aspect, the present invention provides a high voltage-high frequency electrical energy transformation apparatus comprising a frequency inverter capable of converting 60 Hz electrical energy into 40-100 KHz electrical energy; and a voltage transformer. The voltage transformer comprises a transformer housing; at least one soft magnetic core; a low voltage primary winding and a high voltage secondary winding; and a solid insulating material comprising polydicyclopentadiene. The solid insulating material is in contact with the high voltage secondary winding.

Abstract: A molecular drag pump comprising a rotor and a stator, the pump being of the type including at least alternating finned stages of the rotor and of the stator, and in which the rotor is bell-shaped, while the stator includes at least one external portion carrying the stator fins and at least one internal portion penetrating into the bell-shaped rotor, said internal portion closing the pump at its delivery end and including a flange-forming external peripheral rim, wherein said external portion of the stator carrying the stator pins is made up of two half-stators that meet in a diametral plane, each half-stator comprising a single piece and being positioned axially by having a bearing surface situated at its end remote from its suction end that hooks into a complementary circular groove of said internal portion of the stator, and wherein the outside diameter of the first finned stage of the rotor at its suction end corresponds, ignoring operating clearance, to the outside diameter of the external portion of the

Abstract: A rotary assembly comprising a stator and a rotor of axis .DELTA., rotary drive means, radial support means, and an active magnetic axial abutment comprising a magnetic circuit in two portions, namely a fixed portion, and a moving portion, the two portions being separated from each other by two parallel plane air gaps, each portion of said magnetic circuit being circularly symmetrical about axis .DELTA., and having the shape of an open channel-section extending about said axis .DELTA., the open ends of the two portions of magnetic circuit facing each other, an electrical coil being received in the inside annular space of the fixed portion of the magnetic circuit, wherein a drive winding secured to said axial abutment coil and received in the inside annular space of the moving portion of said magnetic circuit co-operates with permanent magnets fixed to the moving portion of said magnetic circuit, and facing said drive winding.

Abstract: A turbomolecular pump comprising a stator and a rotor, said rotor comprising a central shaft and a bell-shaped active portion, said stator comprising an outer portion and an inner portion that penetrates into the cavity of said bell-shaped active portion, and that supports the stator portion of the drive motor, the shaft of said rotor supporting the rotor portion of said drive motor, wherein said central shaft and the bell-shaped active portion of the rotor are made in one piece, without any assembly being necessary, and of a non-magnetic material, said shaft being provided with a central bore which receives the rotor portion of said drive motor, which portion is constituted by a cylindrical permanent magnet.

Abstract: A positive-displacement machine comprising a piston situated in a casing. The outline of the piston is hypertrochoidal, as is the outline of the hollow inside volume of the casing. The piston has n axes of symmetry, and the casing has n+1 axes of symmetry. The piston rotates inside the casing in orbital motion about the axis .DELTA.c of the casing. To obtain the rotation in orbital motion, firstly the piston is freely rotatably mounted on a crank pin that has its axis offset relative to the axis of a supporting shaft that is coaxial with the axis .DELTA.c of the casing, the shaft being rotated, and secondly the surface of the piston and the surface of the hollow inside volume of the casing are equipped with permanent magnets creating magnetic repulsion forces.

Abstract: The machine includes a piston which is cylindrical in the mathematical sense, which has an axis .DELTA..sub.p, which is rotary, and which is situated in a cylindrical casing that has an axis .DELTA..sub.c, the piston having an outline that has .DELTA..sub.p axes of symmetry, the casing delimiting a hollow volume whose cross-section in a plane perpendicular to its axis .DELTA..sub.c has S.sub.c axes of symmetry, S.sub.p and S.sub.c differing from each other by unity. The axes .DELTA..sub.p and .DELTA..sub.c are parallel and are separated by a distance E, the piston and the casing delimiting at least three chambers between them, and the casing including at least one suction inlet and one delivery outlet. The positive-displacement machine further includes a ferromagnetic sprocket which has an axis .DELTA..sub.p, which is secured to the piston, which has N.sub.p teeth, and which is disposed inside a ferromagnetic toothed ring which has an axis .DELTA..sub.

Abstract: An electromagnetic bearing including a stator portion having sixteen magnetic cores facing the rotor portion. The sixteen cores are divided into four groups of four cores, and each group is equipped with suspension electric windings disposed such that the magnetic flux produced thereby is in the same direction in the first two cores of the group and in the opposite direction in the following two cores, each core in each group further being equipped with a position-detection electric coil, the coils on the four cores in any one group being connected together in series and powered by an AC electric current, the magnetic flux produced by the coils at any determined time being in opposite directions in the first two cores of any group, and also in opposite directions in the following two cores.

Abstract: A gastight manually-operated valve comprising a cylindrical valve body including a first orifice and a second orifice, and containing a piston valve-member that is prevented from rotating but that is free to move axially between a closed position closing said first orifice and an open position providing free communication between said first orifice and said second orifice, wherein said body is provided with a control ring surrounding the outside of the valve body, prevented from moving axially, and free to move in rotation, both said control ring and said piston valve member being fitted with at least one pair of axially polarized permanent magnets, with the two magnets in each pair being polarized in opposite directions to each other and extending respectively on two diametrically opposite generator lines of the body or valve member part carrying them.

Abstract: A mechanical pump assembly (20) for pumping a secondary vacuum, the assembly comprising two pumping stages, the first stage having a suction inlet (9) and the second stage having a suction orifice (10), said inlet and said orifice both opening out to the outside, both stages having a common delivery outlet (4), the pump assembly being characterized in that both of said pumping stages are of the Holweck drum type, said first stage having a compression ratio of about 50 for a gas such as helium and of about 30,000 for air, the pumping speed of the first stage being about 4 l/s for air and about 2.5 l/s for said gas, and in that said second stage has a pumping speed of about 3.5 l/s for air and of about 2 l/s for said gas, the nominal speed of rotation of said mechanical pump assembly being about 27,000 rpm.

Abstract: A vacuum pump for producing a clean molecular vacuum, the vacuum pump comprising a stator (1A, 1B) and a rotor (2), the rotor being driven by a drive motor (6, 7, 8) integrated in the pump, the rotor being supported by magnetic bearings, and being bell-shaped fitting over an internal projection (3) protruding from the stator, the stator components (7, 8) of the drive motor and of the bearings (11B, 12B, 13B, 15, 16) being situated on the periphery of the internal projection (3), the rotor components (11A, 12A, 13A, 14) of the drive motor and of the bearings being situated on the internal periphery of the bell-shaped rotor (2), the vacuum pump being characterized in that a first gastight coating (29) made of non-magnetic material covers the projection (3) overlying the stator components of the motor and of the bearings, and in that similarly in the rotor a second gastight coating (30) made of non-magnetic material covers the rotor components of the drive motor and of the bearings.

Abstract: A device for feeding grease to the bearings of a rotary machine comprising a stator and a rotor, the device comprising injectors for injecting grease into said bearings, the injectors being controlled by an electronic control circuit which has inputs receiving signals from sensors for sensing parameters characteristic of the operating state of the bearings. The injectors are connected to a supply of grease under pressure and comprise injector blocks each connected to a respective bearing feeder channel. The sensors are pressure and temperature sensors, and the electronic circuit includes a clock and generates injection cycles as a function of a preestablished program, taking account of the information provided by the sensors and by the operating time of the bearings.

Abstract: A molecular or turbomolecular type of pump comprising a stator (2) and a rotor (3) rotated by a motor (7), the stator having a first zone overlying the rotor and in which gas is admitted, and a second zone adjacent to the drive motor and cooled by a flow of fluid (8), the pump being characterized in that the first zone is provided with heater (12) for maintaining the temperature of the first zone above the condensation threshold of the gas being admitted, with the first and second zones being separated from each other by a thermal impedance element (13).