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Special machine construction in the glass processing industry from Luebeck

What influence does altitude have on operation?

Specialist Expertise

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Does the operating height have an influence on working with a vacuum lifting device?

The higher you are above sea level, the lower the ambient air pressure.

Battery-powered vacuum pumps are predominantly used for vacuum lifting devices used on construction sites.

These vacuum pumps create a maximum of approx. -0.7 bar absolute negative pressure. Is this still sufficient for using a normal vacuum lifting device at an altitude of 2500 metres? As a rule, these vacuum lifting devices require a negative pressure of -0.6 bar to work safely. In order to guarantee this, a negative pressure of -0.7 bar must generally be reached so that the vacuum pump can also be switched off.

To find out more about this, we took a trip over the Great St Bernard Pass and operated our test pump with storage tank at various altitudes.

Here is a summary of the result.

First attempt at approx. 1000 m above sea level
First attempt at approx. 1000 m above sea level
The vacuum pump easily manages the -0.75 bar vacuum at an altitude of 1000 metres above sea level.
The vacuum pump easily manages the -0.75 bar vacuum at an altitude of 1000 metres above sea level.
Second attempt at approx. 1500 m above sea level
Second attempt at approx. 1500 m above sea level
The vacuum pump still manages the -0.7 bar vacuum at an altitude of 1500 metres. Up to this altitude, a normal battery-operated vacuum lifting device will still be able to do its job.
The vacuum pump still manages the -0.7 bar vacuum at an altitude of 1500 metres.
Up to this height, a normal battery-operated vacuum lifting device will still be able to do its job.

Up to this height, a normal battery-operated vacuum lifting device will still be able to do its job.

Third attempt at approx. 2000 m above sea level
Third attempt at approx. 2000 m above sea level
The vacuum pump still manages the approx. -0.67 bar negative pressure at an altitude of 2000 metres.
The vacuum pump still manages the approx. -0.67 bar negative pressure at an altitude of 2000 metres.

At this height, a normal battery-operated vacuum lifting device will only be able to work with the vacuum pump running.

Fourth attempt at approx. 2500 m above sea level
Fourth attempt at approx. 2500 m above sea level
The vacuum pump just manages the approx. -0.62 bar negative pressure at an altitude of approx. 2500 metres.
The vacuum pump just manages the approx. -0.62 bar negative pressure at an altitude of approx. 2500 metres.

At this height, a normal battery-operated vacuum lifting device will only be able to work with the vacuum pump running and would no longer have a reserve available.

After that, we were sure that we would produce our vacuum lifter Kombi 7441-DmS6H in a "Gipfelstürmer" version for our Swiss customer. Because your safety is important to us.

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