Optimization of molecular pump by meta-heuristic algorithms: modified Sickafus method

It is important to maintain the vacuum in the space between the rotor and the body of a gas centrifuge machine during the gasification and enrichment process. For this reason, a molecular pump is connected to the upper part of the body. The pump has grooved that particles collide with as they move. Depending on the direction of the grooves, the particles are deflected and return to the rotor. One method of analyzing the gas flow inside the molecular pump is by solving the flow equations using the Sickafus method and his colleagues. This method is useful because it reduces calculation time. In this article, four meta-heuristic algorithms were used to determine the optimal geometric and operational parameters of the molecular pump. The results indicate that among the meta-heuristic algorithms, optimization with the humpback whale algorithm (WOA) produces the highest compression ratio for the molecular pump. The average absolute deviation value of the logarithm of the pressure density ratio, when compared to values predicted by the upgraded Sickafus method with optimal parameters, shows a very good agreement between the experimental method and the upgraded Sickafus method using the meta-heuristic WOA algorithm.