JP2001324030A - Butterfly opening and closing valve - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a butterfly opening and closing valve capable of finely adjusting introduction of fluid or exhaust gas speed. SOLUTION: In this butterfly opening and closing valve having a disk-like valve element for opening and closing a passage 13 opened in a housing 12, the disk-like valve element for opening and closing the passage 13 is formed by a main valve element 14 for opening and closing the whole passage and at least one auxiliary valve element 20 for opening and closing a part of the main valve element 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a butterfly opening / closing valve which opens and closes a flow passage by rotating a disk-shaped valve disposed in the flow passage.
The present invention relates to a butterfly on-off valve capable of finely adjusting a fluid flow rate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A butterfly on-off valve is used as an introduction valve or an exhaust valve for continuously supplying and stopping a fluid in a high-vacuum or a reaction gas supply line in the semiconductor manufacturing field. It is used by wearing. FIG. 2 shows an example of a butterfly on-off valve. The butterfly on-off valve 1 includes a substantially cylindrical housing 2 having an inner peripheral surface as a fluid passage 2a, and a disk-shaped valve body 3 is housed inside the housing 2 so as to be openable and closable. The drive unit 5 provided outside 2a and the valve body 3 are connected by the valve shaft 4, and the disc-shaped valve body 3 is rotated.
The flow passage 2a can be closed or opened.

[0003] Such a butterfly on-off valve 1 is widely used, for example, in the field of semiconductor manufacturing which requires ultra-high airtightness. In this field, for example, as shown in FIG. (Automatic pressure control)
In some cases, it is used for pressure control in the vacuum chamber 6 referred to as “pressure control”. In this vacuum chamber 6, the internal pressure is detected by the gauge 11, and the butterfly on-off valve 1 installed in the exhaust line 7 is opened to reduce the pressure by the vacuum pump 8, while the on-off valve 1 interposed in the introduction line 9 is opened. ′ Is opened, a predetermined gas fluid is introduced from here, and the inside of the vacuum chamber 6 is maintained at a constant pressure with a predetermined gas.

[0004]

By the way, in the vacuum chamber 6 in the semiconductor manufacturing field, it is necessary to quickly exhaust and introduce a gas. You may want to fine-tune the gas pressure by performing an introduction. In such a case, with the conventional butterfly on-off valve 1, it is difficult to adjust the exhaust speed or finely adjust the gas pressure, even if the exhaust and gas can be quickly introduced with the valve fully opened. However, there is a problem that it is difficult to change the internal pressure in a short time while exhausting air.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a butterfly on-off valve capable of finely adjusting the introduction or exhaust speed of a fluid.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and is a butterfly on-off valve having a disc-shaped valve element for opening and closing a flow passage opened in a housing, The disc-shaped valve element that opens and closes the flow passage includes a main valve element that opens and closes the entire flow path and at least one sub-valve element that opens and closes a part of the main valve element. I have.

According to the present invention having such a structure, the sub-valve is opened while the main valve is closed, or the opening of the sub-valve is slightly reduced while the main valve is slightly opened. The fluid flow rate can be adjusted by adjusting the fluid flow rate.
Here, in the present invention, it is preferable that the main valve element and the sub-valve element are arranged concentrically. This facilitates control of the sub-valve.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1A and 1B show a main part of a butterfly on-off valve according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, a flow passage 13 is formed inside a substantially cylindrical housing 12, and a disk-shaped main valve body 14 having substantially the same shape as the flow passage 13 is opened and closed in the flow passage 13. It is housed freely. The main valve body 14 is composed of two members, a flat ring-shaped valve body 15 and a convex ring-shaped support member 17 connected to the valve body 15 via a plurality of bolts 16. A seal member 22 such as an O-ring is interposed on the outer periphery of 15, and a small-diameter second flow passage 30 is formed on the inner peripheral side of the support member 17. The support member 17 is connected to an end of a large-diameter valve shaft 18 inserted through the substantially cylindrical housing 12, and is rotated via the valve shaft 18. Also,
Seal members 26a, 26b, 26c, 26d such as O-rings and bearings 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d are provided between the housing 12 and the valve shaft 18. In addition, bellows can also be used for these seal members.

On the other hand, from the other side of the housing 12, a small-diameter valve shaft 19 is inserted into a through hole formed at the end of the valve shaft 18, and the distal end portion 34 of the valve shaft 19 is a dry bearing. ing. On the other hand, between the valve shaft 19 and the through hole of the valve shaft 18, seal members 25a and 25b such as O-rings are provided.
And a bearing 33 are interposed, and are rotatable.

On the valve shaft 19, a small-diameter sub-valve 20 is integrally supported by a plurality of bolts 21 arranged linearly. A seal member 23 such as an O-ring is interposed on the outer periphery of the sub-valve element 20. Reference numeral 27 in FIG. 1B indicates a bolt hole formed in the housing 12.

As described above, the butterfly on-off valve according to the present embodiment is configured such that the small-diameter sub-valve 20 is disposed inside the large-diameter main valve 14 so as to be able to open and close flow paths having different sizes. ing. Therefore, in this embodiment, by opening the main valve body 14, a large amount of fluid can be introduced or exhausted from the flow passage 13. On the other hand, when the main valve element 14 is closed or the main valve element 1
If the opening angle of the sub-valve element 20 is adjusted while the valve 4 is slightly opened, it is possible to introduce or exhaust a small amount of fluid. As described above, the butterfly on-off valve of the present embodiment can be used in various ways, whereby the flow rate of the fluid from the flow passage 30 and the flow passage 13 can be adjusted.

An appropriate drive unit such as a pneumatic cylinder or a motor is connected to the valve shaft 18 and the valve shaft 19, and the drive unit independently opens and closes the main valve element 14 and the sub-valve element 20, respectively. Can be operated. Alternatively, the main valve body 14 and the sub valve body 20 can be manually moved. Further, various settings can be considered for setting the opening and closing of the main valve element 14 and the sub-valve element. That is, the main valve element 14
It is also possible to finely adjust the fluid flow rate by changing the opening of the sub-valve 20 with the valve closed, or to adjust the opening of the sub-valve 20 with the main valve 14 being about half open. Can also.

Next, the operation of the butterfly on-off valve according to this embodiment will be described. Here, the butterfly on-off valve is set so that the sub-valve 20 can be operated only when the main valve 14 completely closes the flow passage 13. An example in the case of operating the opening degree of the sub-valve element 20 will be described below. First, in this embodiment, a pressure fluid such as air is acted as a driving means of the butterfly on-off valve, and the valve shaft 18 is rotated. By the rotation of the valve shaft 18, the main valve body 14 changes from, for example, fully closed to fully open (or from fully open to fully closed), and the flow passage 13
Allow (or block) the flow of fluid through the device. If the main valve body 14 is fully open, a large amount of fluid can be introduced from the flow passage 13. If the main valve body 14 performs an operation reverse to the above operation, the flow passage 13 can be closed.

When the main valve body 14 is in a closed state,
If the valve shaft 19 is rotated by, for example, a servomotor, only the sub-valve 20 can be opened. Therefore, the small-diameter second flow passage 30 is opened. Therefore, the pressure can be finely adjusted by introducing the fluid from the flow passage 30, and the exhaust speed can be finely adjusted by exhausting the fluid from here.

Because of such convenience, the butterfly on-off valve of the present embodiment is, for example, an AP of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.
When used in a vacuum chamber called C (automatic pressure control), the evacuation speed can be adjusted and the internal gas pressure can be finely adjusted. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, one sub-valve element 20 is interposed in the main valve element 14, but another sub-valve element 20 'may be provided in the main valve element 14. In this case, two sub-valves 20 and 20 'may be provided side by side. These sub-valves 20, 20 'may be operated independently or simultaneously.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the double valve element arranged concentrically as in the present embodiment, but it is also possible to install three valve elements concentrically. In this case, the flow rate can be adjusted in three stages, large, medium, and small. Further, in this embodiment, the sub-valve is provided concentrically with the main valve, but the sub-valve may be provided at a position which is not concentric with the main valve.
Further, the fluid is not limited to gas, but can be applied to liquid such as water. Of course, it can be used for evacuation. Further, the drive unit for operating the valve shafts 18 and 19 is not limited to air, but may be driven hydraulically, electrically, manually, or the like, and is not limited in any way.

[0017]

As described above, according to the butterfly on-off valve according to the present invention, the sub-valve is provided in addition to the main valve. Can be easily operated, whereby the introduction of the fluid or the fine adjustment of the exhaust can be easily performed.

If the main valve and the sub-valve are arranged coaxially, the structure becomes easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1A and 1B are a side sectional view and a partially cutaway front view showing a main part of a butterfly on-off valve according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially broken sectional view of a conventional butterfly on-off valve.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a vacuum chamber employing a conventional butterfly on-off valve.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 Housing 13 Flow path 14 Main valve element 20 Sub-valve element 30 Second flow path

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A butterfly valve having a disc-shaped valve body for opening and closing a flow passage opened in a housing, wherein the disc-shaped valve body for opening and closing the flow passage is a main valve for opening and closing the entire flow passage. A butterfly on-off valve comprising a body and at least one sub-valve for opening and closing a part of the main valve. 2. The butterfly on-off valve according to claim 1, wherein the main valve element and the sub-valve element are arranged concentrically.