A smoke evacuation system (800) for use during a medical procedure is described. Said system comprises a conduit (802) including an inlet (804) into which air that includes smoke generated during a medical/surgical procedure is drawn, a filter (809) in fluid communication with said conduit (802) for filtering smoke from the air drawn through said conduit, and a pump (806) in fluid communication with said conduit for drawing air into said inlet (804), through said conduit (802), and through said filter for filtering smoke from the air. The pump includes a pump motor (808) for operating the pump and a pump control circuit (810) electrically connected to said pump motor for providing electrical power to said pump motor to control a speed of said pump. Also provided are a smoke sensor (820) in fluid communication with said conduit for sensing an amount of smoke flowing through said conduit and a controller (818) connected to said smoke sensor for receiving therefrom a signal corresponding to an amount of detected smoke and connected to said pump control circuit. When said smoke sensor (820) does not detect smoke above a predetermined limit, said controller regulates the pump control circuit (810) to cause the pump (806) to run at a first speed, the first speed being sufficient to draw air into the conduit so that smoke can be sensed by said sensor. When said smoke sensor (820) detects smoke in excess of the predetermined limit, said controller regulates the pump control circuit (810) to cause the pump (806) to run at a second speed, the second speed being greater than the first speed.
