JP2005256845A - Evacuating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an evacuating apparatus having high energy efficiency when the suction side pressure has reached the ultimate pressure or become a certain degree of vacuum, by decreasing the motive power owing to differential pressure. <P>SOLUTION: In the evacuating apparatus 100 having a roughing vacuum pump B and a booster pump A, each of the roughing vacuum pump B and the booster pump A is constituted by a screw vacuum pump, and the design pumping speed of the roughing vacuum pump B is sufficiently smaller than the design pumping speed of the booster pump A but adequate to be operable as the roughing vacuum pump. In addition, the number of turns of screw for the booster pump A is set to be less than the number of screw for the roughing vacuum pump B. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a vacuum exhaust apparatus used for exhausting a vacuum chamber or the like of a semiconductor manufacturing facility.

In the semiconductor vacuum apparatus, it is particularly important that the degree of vacuum of the exhausted chamber can be about 10 ⁻³ Pa and that oil molecules do not enter the exhausted chamber. Therefore, as a vacuum pump capable of satisfying such requirements in a single stage, it can be achieved in one stage from atmospheric pressure to about 10 ⁻³ Pa (high compression ratio, wide working pressure range), and oil-free. A screw vacuum pump (Patent Document 1) has been proposed.

  However, the screw vacuum pump has the following inherent problems.

  (1) The screw vacuum pump has a small conductance because the molecules of the exhaust gas are taken in and transferred through the thread groove. Therefore, the exhaust speed in the molecular flow region is low.

  (2) The screw vacuum pump requires clearances between the meshing surfaces of the male and female screws and between the outer periphery of the screw and the inner periphery of the housing. Therefore, the vacuum sealability is poor, which adversely affects the ultimate vacuum.

  (3) Since the screw vacuum pump has a poor sealing property as described above, when used as a roughing pump, the power (loss power) to be discharged after recompressing the backflow air from the atmosphere side is large. In particular, those having a high exhaust speed have a strong tendency because the total amount of the gaps described in the above (2) increases. Further, when the screw type pump is used as a roughing pump, a large power loss due to the pressure difference between the intake side and the atmosphere side occurs even though the intake side has already reached the required degree of vacuum.

  Conventionally, the following solutions have been proposed for the problems inherent to the screw vacuum pump as described above.

  (A) First, as a means for solving the conductance problem of (1), a screw vacuum pump is used as a roughing pump where conductance is not a problem, and a roots type vacuum pump having a large conductance is used as a booster pump. ing.

  However, since this two-stage pump has a small compression ratio of the roots type vacuum pump, the exhaust speed of the screw pump as the roughing pump cannot be reduced so much. The fact that the exhaust speed of the roughing pump cannot be reduced means that the capacity of the motor for driving the roughing pump cannot be reduced, and each power loss in the above (3) cannot be reduced. (Also, the problem of (2) above remains.)

  (B1) As a problem-solving means concerning the sealing property of (2) above, a plurality of fluid transfer chambers are provided between the suction port and the exhaust port by using a plurality of screw turns in a screw-type pump used in a single stage. It has been proposed to improve the sealing performance (Patent Document 1). However, this increases the axial length of the screw, which increases the size of the device. Moreover, the problem of the above (3) cannot be solved only by using a plurality of screws.

  (B2) Similarly, as a means for solving the problem related to the sealability of (2) above, a screw vacuum pump is used as a booster pump that does not cause a problem of sealability, and a rough pump has a diaphragm pump or an oil rotary pump with good sealability. It has been proposed to use (Patent Document 2). In addition, since these oil rotary pumps or the like are usually provided with check valves at the discharge ports, the backflow of air from the atmosphere side is prevented, and as a result, each loss power mentioned in (3) is also reduced. be able to.

  However, since such a two-stage pump needs to use a diaphragm pump or an oil rotary pump with good sealing performance as a roughing pump, for example, in the case of a diaphragm pump, a reaction product (exhaust chamber) That are generated from the reactive gas flowed in). Since reaction products accumulate in this way, exhaust performance is significantly deteriorated, and overhauling takes much time and cost. Further, in the case of an oil rotary pump, there is a possibility that the exhausted chamber may be contaminated with oil molecules, and there is a problem that the oil deteriorates in a short period of time due to the reactive gas, and the oil must be changed frequently.

  (C1) As means for solving the problem of power loss in (3) above, there has been proposed one provided with a micro pump with a very low exhaust speed on the exhaust side of the roughing screw vacuum pump (Patent Document 3). 4). The pumping speed of this micro pump is such that a reactive gas (at most 50 to 150 cc / min) flowing into the vacuum chamber is sucked and exhausted (the pumping speed is one hundredth or less of the roughing pump). Is. That is, the exhaust speed is set very small. Therefore, the reverse torque due to the above-described differential pressure acting on the micropump is also very small, and the power loss is also very small.

  However, this is such that the roughing screw vacuum pump continuously exhausts from the atmospheric pressure to the high vacuum region, that is, from the gas viscous flow region to the molecular flow region. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the number of turns of the screw and to reduce the clearance between the screw and its housing in order to improve the sealing performance in the viscous flow region (rough exhaust). Moreover, in order to satisfy the pumping speed in the molecular flow region, it must have a large gas transfer volume. Accordingly, the screw vacuum pump becomes larger in both the radial direction and the axial direction, and the problem of gap fluctuation due to thermal expansion accompanying it increases, so that high-precision machining of the screw and the screw storage chamber (housing) is required and the cost is also increased. . Further, since the gas near the atmospheric pressure is exhausted by the screw vacuum pump with the large volume screw vacuum pump, the motor that drives the screw vacuum pump must also have a large capacity.

  (C2) Similarly, as a means for solving the problem of power loss in (3) above, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the volume of the exhaust-side transfer chamber is reduced as well as a plurality of screw turns. A screw vacuum pump for use in a single stage has been proposed. This conventional example will be described in detail below in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention.

  A rotor storage chamber 210b formed inside the housing 210 includes a main screw rotor 220 composed of male and female screw rotors 220f and 220m having a gear ratio of 5 to 4, and another male and female screw rotor having a gear ratio of 5 to 4. A sub screw rotor 230 composed of 230f and 230m is rotatably accommodated.

  When the motor 243 is rotated, the male rotors 230m and 220m connected to the motor 243 are rotated, and at the same time, the female rotors 220f and 230f are also rotated through the timing gears 241 and 242. As described above, when the main and sub row 220 and 230 are rotationally driven, the gas in the vacuum exhaust chamber is sucked into the housing 210 through the suction port 210a, transferred and compressed, and is discharged from the exhaust port 210c to the outside. To be discharged.

  The power required for the displacement transfer pump 200 during the exhaust operation is the transfer power for transferring the sucked compressive fluid to the exhaust port 210c, and the volume of the transfer chamber of the positive displacement pump 200 is exhausted from the intake port 210a. The volumetric compression power due to being reduced toward the port 210c and the gap formed between the main screw rotor 220 or the sub screw rotor 230 and the housing 210, etc., the high pressure side, that is, the exhaust side to the low pressure side, That is, power for transferring the compressive fluid that has flowed back to the intake side to the exhaust port 210c again, and power that opposes the force received from the compressive fluid due to the pressure difference between the intake side and the exhaust side (hereinafter referred to as power due to differential pressure). , Divided into

  The ratio of power required during the exhaust operation of the positive displacement pump 200 described above differs depending on the pressure of the compressive fluid near the intake port 210a and the pressure of the compressive fluid near the exhaust port 210c. For example, when a container having a constant volume (hereinafter referred to as a container to be vacuumed) whose internal pressure is equal to the atmospheric pressure is exhausted by the volume transfer pump 200 through the intake port 210a, the compressibility of the vicinity of the intake port 210a with time is increased. The pressure of the fluid decreases and eventually reaches the ultimate pressure. However, when a small amount of gas or the like flows into the intake port 210a, the pressure of the compressive fluid in the vicinity of the intake port 210a does not reach the ultimate pressure, but is in a certain vacuum state. Therefore, at the start of evacuation, the pressures of the compressive fluid near the intake port 210a and the exhaust port 210c are both equal to the atmospheric pressure, and the required power is mainly volumetric compression power, but the gas inside the vacuum container is When the ultimate pressure or a certain level of vacuum is reached, the difference between the pressure of the compressive fluid near the exhaust port 210c and the pressure of the compressive fluid near the intake port 210a becomes large, and the required power is mainly Power by differential pressure.

  Normally, vacuum pumps are often used to keep a container of a certain volume in a vacuum, so that the power required by the vacuum pumps during operation, that is, the power consumed is mostly due to the pressure difference. . Therefore, energy saving of the vacuum pump can be achieved by reducing the power due to the differential pressure.

Here, the power consumption W due to the differential pressure of male and female rotors such as screw type vacuum pumps is expressed by the following general formula (1), where T is the torque of the rotor, N is the rotational speed of the rotor, and a is a constant. It can be expressed by a formula.
W = a × T × N ………………………………………… (1)

Also, the high pressure side pressure receiving area converted in the direction parallel to the rotor rotation axis is A1, the high pressure side average pressure is P1, the distance from the center of the A1 area to the rotor rotation center is L1, and the conversion is in the direction parallel to the rotor rotation axis. When the low pressure side pressure receiving area is A2, the low pressure side average pressure is P2, and the distance from the A2 area center to the rotor rotation center is L2, the torque T can be expressed by the following equation (2). However, the high pressure side is the exhaust side, and the low pressure side is the intake side.
T = A1 * P1 * L1-A2 * P2 * L2 (2)

  In equation (2), A1, A2, L1 and L2 can be changed depending on the structure of the vacuum pump. According to equations (1) and (2), the structure of the vacuum pump is determined so that the torque T is reduced. By doing so, the power W by the differential pressure can be reduced.

  However, in actuality, A2 and L2 are dimensions that are inevitably determined when the pumping speed of the vacuum pump is determined, and when the gas inside the vacuum container reaches an ultimate pressure or a certain level of vacuum, that is, intake air In a state where the side pressure is low to some extent, the force due to the pressure of the compressible fluid on the intake side is at a negligible level. Therefore, A1 and L1 are reduced, that is, a transfer chamber 230A (hereinafter referred to as an exhaust side transfer chamber) formed by the tooth groove of the sub screw rotor 230 and the housing 210 and communicating with the exhaust port 210c (atmospheric pressure). Decreasing the volume of power reduces the power W due to the differential pressure.

  However, in such a conventional vacuum pump, the outer diameter of the sub-screw rotor 230 and the inner diameter of the housing 210 forming the exhaust-side transfer chamber 230A are equal to the outer diameter of the main screw rotor 220 and the inner diameter of the housing 210, respectively. In order to increase the design pumping speed (the value obtained by multiplying the gas transfer volume per one rotation of the input shaft and the unit time rotational speed of the input shaft), it is formed by the tooth groove of the main screw rotor 220 and the housing 210. When the volume of the transfer chamber 220A (hereinafter referred to as the intake-side transfer chamber) immediately after being closed from the intake port 210a is designed to be large, it is difficult to reduce the volume of the exhaust-side transfer chamber 230A to an optimum size. .

  That is, in the case of the screw type, the gas transfer chamber is formed by meshing of the male and female rotors. Therefore, in the conventional vacuum pump, the outer diameters of the male and female rotors 220f and 220m forming the intake side transfer chamber 220A and the outer diameters of the male and female rotors 230f and 230m forming the exhaust side transfer chamber 230A are equal to each other. In order to reduce the volume of the side transfer chamber 230A, as shown in FIG. 11, the lead angle θ2 of the sub screw rotor 230 may be reduced to reduce the intermediate transfer chamber 230B configured by the lead angle θ2. However, reducing the lead angle θ2 is limited due to processing problems, and the volume of the intermediate transfer chamber 230B can only be reduced to about 1/3 of the volume of the intake side transfer chamber 220A. The fact that the volume of the intermediate transfer chamber 230B cannot be reduced means that the volume of the exhaust side transfer chamber 230A cannot be reduced accordingly. Specifically, the volume of the exhaust-side transfer chamber 230A can only be reduced to about 1/5 of the volume of the intermediate transfer chamber 230B.

  When considering roots type or claw type vacuum pumps, the axial width of the rotor must be reduced to reduce the volume of the exhaust side transfer chamber, but the axial width of the rotor is reduced. However, if the volume of the intake side transfer chamber is designed to be large in order to increase the designed exhaust speed, it is difficult to reduce the volume of the exhaust side transfer chamber to an optimum size.

  As described above, in the screw vacuum pump shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, it is difficult to reduce the volume of the exhaust-side transfer chamber to the optimum size, so that the power due to the differential pressure cannot be reduced. When the pressure on the intake side is the ultimate pressure or a certain degree of vacuum, the energy efficiency is low.

  Further, in this case, as described in the above (B), the axial length of the screw becomes long, and the apparatus becomes large.

JP 7-9239 JP-A-62-243982 JP-A-7-119666 JP-A-10-184576

  As described above, conventionally, in a vacuum exhaust apparatus using a screw vacuum pump, means for individually solving problems inherent to the screw pump, that is, problems relating to conductance, sealing performance, and power consumption, have been proposed. None of these problems have been solved, but these means of solving cause new problems such as an increase in device size and maintainability.

  The object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the vacuum exhaust apparatus using such a screw vacuum pump.

In order to solve the above problems, an evacuation apparatus according to the present invention is a vacuum evacuation apparatus having a roughing pump and a booster pump, wherein the roughing pump and the booster pump are each constituted by a screw vacuum pump, The pump's design pumping speed (“design pumping speed” means the value obtained by multiplying the gas transfer volume per rotation of the input shaft by the unit time rotation speed of the input shaft. The same shall apply hereinafter). The pump pumping speed is sufficiently smaller than the pump pumping speed, but large enough to function as a roughing pump. The number of screw turns of the roughing screw vacuum pump is different from that of the screw with the larger number of teeth. The same shall apply hereinafter)), which is characterized in that it is more than the number of screw turns of the booster screw vacuum pump.
i) According to this configuration, a screw vacuum pump having a high compression ratio is used as a booster pump as a general characteristic. Speed can be achieved.
ii) Further, the designed pumping speed of the roughing screw pump is made sufficiently smaller than the designed pumping speed of the booster pump, but it is set to function as a roughing pump. Therefore, the booster pump does not need to have the ability to exhaust from the intake side when it is at atmospheric pressure, and can be made small and simple in structure. In the state, the power loss due to the differential pressure can be reduced.
iii) Since the design pumping speed of the roughing screw pump is sufficiently small as described above, the screw radius can be reduced. Accordingly, the gap variation due to the thermal expansion in the radial direction is reduced, so that the radial gap can be further reduced. As a result, the total gas leakage space is reduced and the sealing performance can be improved.
iv) As described above, since the sealing performance of the roughing screw pump can be improved, it is not necessary to increase the number of screw turns for improving the sealing performance, and the axial length of the roughing pump can be reduced.
v) Further, as described above, the sealing performance of the roughing pump can be improved, so even if the number of screw turns of the booster pump is small or the accuracy of the gap between the screw and the housing is not good. A high degree of vacuum can be obtained, and the axial length of the booster screw pump can be kept short.
vi) Further, since the number of screw turns of the booster pump can be reduced, even if the lead angle of the booster pump screw is increased to increase the conductance, the axial length is not excessively increased.
vii) Since the rough vacuum pump and the booster pump employ screw vacuum pumps with a simple structure, the exhaust passage is simple and short. Therefore, the reaction product is not easily clogged in the exhaust passage, and even if it clogs or adheres, maintenance such as removal thereof becomes easy.

  Moreover, the vacuum exhaust apparatus of the present invention is characterized in that a design exhaust speed of the roughing screw vacuum pump is 1/5 to 1/100 of a design exhaust speed of the booster screw vacuum pump.

  With this configuration, it is possible to more reliably obtain a vacuum exhaust apparatus having higher energy efficiency than conventional ones. The lower the design pumping speed of the roughing screw vacuum pump relative to the design pumping speed of the booster screw vacuum pump, the lower the power consumption, but if the design pumping speed of the roughing pump is too low, In the transition period from the atmospheric pressure to the ultimate pressure, the adverse effect that the exhaust time becomes longer occurs. Therefore, considering both power consumption and exhaust time, the design pumping speed of the roughing pump is set to 1/5 to 1/100 of the booster pump designed pumping speed.

  In the vacuum exhaust apparatus of the present invention, the number of screw turns of the booster screw vacuum pump is approximately 1, or the number of turns in which at least one gas transfer chamber that does not communicate with either the intake port or the exhaust port of the booster pump is formed. It is characterized by being.

  With this configuration, the axial length of the booster screw vacuum pump that greatly affects the size of the apparatus can be substantially minimized, and the apparatus can be miniaturized.

  Moreover, the vacuum exhaust apparatus of the present invention is characterized in that the number of turns of the screw of the roughing screw vacuum pump is 3 to 7 turns.

  With this configuration, it is possible to maintain good sealing performance of the entire evacuation apparatus without increasing the sealing performance of the booster screw vacuum pump, and the axial length of the roughing pump does not become excessive.

  The vacuum exhaust apparatus of the present invention is characterized in that a screw lead angle of the booster screw vacuum pump is larger than a screw lead angle of the roughing screw vacuum pump.

  With this configuration, the axial length of the booster screw pump becomes longer corresponding to the lead angle, but the conductance can be increased. On the other hand, the axial length of the roughing screw pump does not increase.

  Further, the vacuum exhaust apparatus of the present invention drives only the roughing screw vacuum pump until the suction side pressure of the booster screw vacuum pump drops from the atmosphere to about 13300 Pa, and the suction side pressure of the booster screw vacuum pump is 13300 Pa. The booster pump is started to be driven when the pressure becomes less than about.

  With this configuration, the power required for driving the booster pump may be small, and the drive motor may have a small capacity.

  In addition, the vacuum pumping apparatus of the present invention includes booster screw vacuum pump and roughing screw vacuum pump drive motors for reducing the pumping time in a range where the suction side pressure of the booster screw vacuum pump is relatively high. When the booster screw vacuum pump suction side pressure reaches the ultimate pressure or a relatively low pressure, the booster screw vacuum pump drive motor rotates. The number of rotations can be reduced to the minimum number of rotations required to maintain the degree of vacuum required for the evacuated chamber, and the drive motor rotation number of the roughing screw vacuum pump can be maintained below the critical back pressure of the booster pump. The required power is reduced by setting the number of revolutions as low as possible within the range. That.

  With this configuration, the exhaust speed when exhausting from the atmospheric pressure can be increased, and the power consumption can be reduced.

  As described above, the vacuum evacuation apparatus of the present invention comprises a rough vacuum pump and a booster pump each configured by a screw vacuum pump, and the design exhaust speed of the rough suction screw vacuum pump is sufficiently lower than the design exhaust speed of the booster screw vacuum pump. The booster screw vacuum pump is designed to function as a roughing pump, and the number of turns of the booster screw vacuum pump is smaller than that of the roughing screw vacuum pump. Therefore, the structure is simple, power consumption is low, and high vacuum pressure is achieved. It is possible to provide a vacuum evacuation device that is easy to maintain.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
(First embodiment)
A vacuum exhaust device 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The vacuum exhaust apparatus 100 includes a screw type vacuum pump A as a mechanical booster pump and a screw type vacuum pump B as a roughing pump. In the following terms, “main” means “booster screw vacuum pump” and “sub” means “roughing screw vacuum pump”.

  The vacuum exhaust apparatus 100 includes a main screw rotor 120 (a screw rotor of a booster screw vacuum pump) and a sub screw rotor 150 (a screw rotor of a roughing screw vacuum pump) having an outer diameter smaller than that of the main screw rotor 120. . The main screw rotor 120 includes male and female screw rotors 120f and 120m, and the sub screw rotor 150 includes male and female screw rotors 150f and 150m.

  The main screw rotor 120 is stored in a main rotor storage chamber 110 b formed inside the housing 110. Specifically, the female rod 120f is rotatably supported on the housing 110 by bearings 131, 132, and 133, and the male rotor 120m is rotatably supported on the housing 110 by bearings 134, 135, and 136. Here, the seals 137, 138, 139 and 140 isolate the bearings 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, and 136 from the main rotor storage chamber 110 b, and lubricate the bearings 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, and 136. Is prevented from leaking into the main rotor storage chamber 110b, and foreign matter is prevented from entering the bearings 131, 132, 133, 134, 135 and 136 from the main rotor storage chamber 110b.

  The sub screw rotor 150 is stored in a sub rotor storage chamber 110 d formed inside the housing 110. Specifically, the female rotor 150f is rotatably supported on the housing 110 by bearings 161, 162, and 163, and the male rotor 150m is rotatably supported on the housing 110 by bearings 164, 165, and 166. Here, the seals 167, 168, 169, and 170 isolate the bearings 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, and 166 from the sub-rotor storage chamber 110d, and the lubricating oil of the bearings 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, and 166 is removed. While preventing leakage to the sub-rotor storage chamber 110d, foreign matter is prevented from entering the bearings 161, 162, 163, 164, 165 and 166 from the sub-rotor storage chamber 110d.

  Here, the volume of the exhaust side transfer chamber 150A of the roughing pump B is designed to be 1/5 or less of the volume of the intake side transfer chamber 120A of the booster pump A.

  The pumping speed of the screw vacuum pump B as a roughing pump is 420 liters / min (the rated rotational speed of the motor 173 is 4500 rpm) multiplied by the gas transfer volume per rotation of the input shaft and the rotational speed of the input shaft per unit time. ), The design pumping speed of the screw type vacuum pump A as a mechanical booster pump is designed to be 8500 L / min (the rated rotational speed of the motor 143 is 6800 rpm). That is, the designed exhaust speed of the roughing pump B is designed to be about 1/20 of the booster pump A (about 1/13 when converted to the ratio of the gas transfer volume per one rotation of the input shaft). As described above, the design exhaust speed of the roughing pump B is smaller than that of the booster pump A. As shown in FIG. 3, the volume of the exhaust-side transfer chamber 150A communicating with the atmosphere of the roughing pump B is also increased. It is correspondingly smaller. Therefore, the volume of the exhaust side transfer chamber 150A of the roughing pump B is sufficiently smaller than the intake side transfer chamber 120A of the booster pump A. The relationship between the right end surface in FIG. 3 of the exhaust-side transfer chamber 150A communicating with the atmosphere of the roughing pump B and the left end surface (housing inner wall) in FIG. 3 of the exhaust port 110e is assured the necessary exhaust passage area. The exhaust-side transfer chamber 150A communicating with the atmosphere is designed to have a minimum volume. Specifically, the volume of the exhaust side transfer chamber 150A can be reduced to about 1/5 of the volume of the intake side transfer chamber 150B of the roughing pump itself.

  The main rotor storage chamber 110b is formed in the wall portion of the housing 110, and communicates with the outside of the housing 110 through an intake port 110a for sucking a compressive fluid from the outside of the housing 110 into the housing 110. The storage chamber 110b and the sub-rotor storage chamber 110d are communicated with each other by a communication passage 110c formed inside the housing 110. The sub-rotor storage chamber 110d is formed on the wall portion of the housing 110 and extends from the inside of the housing 110 to the outside of the housing 110. The exhaust port 110e for discharging the compressive fluid communicates with the outside of the housing 110. Here, the intake port 110a communicates with a vacuum container having a fixed volume (not shown), and the exhaust port 110e communicates with the atmosphere.

  Timing gears 141 and 142 that rotate the other of the male and female rotors 120f and 120m of the main screw rotor 120 in accordance with the rotation of one of them are fixed to mesh with each other. Further, a main motor 143 is integrally connected to one end of the male rotor 120m.

  Timing gears 171 and 172 that rotate the other of the male and female rotors 150f and 150m of the sub screw rotor 150 in accordance with the rotation of one of them are fixed so as to mesh with each other. Further, a sub motor 173 is integrally connected to one end of the female rotor 150f.

  The housing 110 includes a main housing first member 111, a main housing second member 112, a main housing third member 113, a main housing fourth member 114, a sub housing first member 115, a sub housing second member 116, and a sub housing third. The member 117 and the sub housing fourth member 118 are formed.

  The screw ratio between the main-side male and female rotors 120f and 120m is 6 to 5, and the screw ratio between the sub-side male and female rotors 150f and 150m is 6 to 5. The number of screw turns of the main-side male and female rotors 120f, 120m is 1 (here, “number of turns 1” means the number of turns of the female screw 120f (number of teeth 6). “Number of turns” means that the number of teeth of the male and female screws is different. , Refer to the above definition of the number of turns of the screw having the larger number of teeth.), The number of screw turns of the sub-side male and female rotors 150f and 150m is set to 5, respectively. The screw lead angle of the main-side female rotor 120f is about 45 degrees, and the screw lead angle of the sub-side female rotor 150f is about 12 degrees.

  Here, the number of screw turns of the above-described main-side male and female rotors 120f and 120m is approximately 1, or a gas transfer chamber that does not communicate with either the intake port 110a or the exhaust port 110c (for example, in a compression process as indicated by 120B in FIG. 3). The number of turns in which at least one closed chamber) is formed may be sufficient. This is because the booster pump A in the present embodiment does not need to improve the sealing performance because of the relationship between the design exhaust speed of the roughing pump B and the sealing performance.

  Next, the operation of the vacuum exhaust apparatus 100 according to this embodiment will be described.

  First, the case where the gas in the chamber is exhausted by the roughing screw vacuum pump B until the pressure in the vacuum container (not shown) is changed from around atmospheric pressure to around 13300 Pa will be described.

  By driving the sub motor 173, the male and female rotors 150f and 150m rotate to exhaust the gas in the vacuum exhaust chamber. At this time, the gas in the vacuum exhaust chamber is sucked into the roughing pump A through the intake port 110a, the booster pump A, and the communication passage 110c of the booster pump A, and is discharged into the atmosphere from the exhaust port 110e.

  When the suction side pressure of the booster screw vacuum pump A becomes about 13300 Pa or less due to such exhaust, the booster pump A starts to be driven while maintaining the rotation of the rotors 150f and 150m of the roughing screw vacuum pump B. That is, by driving the main motor 143, the male and female rotors 120m and 120f are rotated, and the diluted gas in the vacuum exhaust chamber is transferred and exhausted to the roughing pump B side. The roughing pump B further transfers and compresses the gas transferred from the booster pump A, and discharges it to the atmosphere from the exhaust port 110e. As described above, the atmospheric pressure of the container to be vacuumed is lowered to the ultimate pressure.

  Here, since the booster pump A discharges a gas having a low pressure, the power required for driving the booster pump A may be small, and therefore the drive motor can be of a small capacity.

  Further, the vacuum pump 100 has a design exhaust speed of a screw vacuum pump B as a roughing pump of 420 L / min (a rated rotational speed of a motor 173 of 4500 rpm), and a design exhaust speed of a screw vacuum pump A as a booster pump is Each is designed to 8500 L / min (the rated rotational speed of the motor 143 is 6800 rpm). That is, since the pumping speed of the roughing pump B is designed to be about 1/20 that of the booster pump A, the power due to the differential pressure can be reduced as compared with the conventional case, and the pressure on the intake side is the ultimate pressure or to some extent. Energy efficiency can be increased when the vacuum is.

  Thus, in order to facilitate understanding of the point that the vacuum evacuation apparatus of the present embodiment can increase energy efficiency and can be downsized, the following is compared with a case where a roots type vacuum pump is used as a mechanical booster pump. explain.

  If a roots-type vacuum pump is used as the booster pump, the compression ratio of the roots-type vacuum pump (ratio of exhaust side pressure to intake side pressure) is as small as about 10: 1. Don't be. For example, when considering a booster pump with an exhaust speed of 4,000 L / min when the inlet pressure is 1 Pa, when the booster pump inlet pressure is 1 Pa, the booster pump inlet 4 Assuming that a gas of 000 Pa · L / min is flowed, the exhaust port pressure of the booster pump is about 10 Pa due to the compression ratio. Then, as the roughing pump of this system, when the suction port pressure is 10 Pa, a pump having a pumping speed of 400 L / min or more is required, and the designed pumping speed is 1000 L / min or more. It becomes a pump. For example, in the case of the screw type, the screw groove, diameter, and length are large. That is, A1 and L1 in the above-described equation (2) are increased. As described above, when the capacity of the roughing pump becomes large, naturally, the power consumed by the differential pressure (derived from the above-described equation (2)) also increases.

  On the other hand, when a screw-type vacuum pump is used as the booster pump, the experimental result shows that the compression ratio is 1: 100 or more in the middle / high vacuum region, which is very large. From this, the same conditions as above (when considering a booster pump with an exhaust speed of 4,000 L / min when the inlet pressure is 1 Pa, and when the inlet pressure of the booster pump is 1 Pa, If a screw-type vacuum pump is used as the booster pump in a gas flow of 4000 Pa · L / min to the booster pump intake port), the exhaust side pressure can be increased to about 100 Pa. Then, as the roughing pump of this system, the pumping speed at the suction port pressure of 100 Pa may be very small such that the pumping speed is about 40 L / min, and the designed pumping speed may be small. Therefore, the gas transfer volume of the roughing screw vacuum pump can be made sufficiently small. Thus, if the transfer volume of the roughing pump can be reduced, naturally the groove, diameter, and length of the screw can also be reduced, that is, A1 and L1 in the above-described equation (2) can be reduced, and power consumption due to differential pressure can be greatly increased. Can be reduced.

  Here, the lower the design pumping speed of the roughing screw pump B relative to the design pumping speed of the booster screw pump A, the lower the power consumption, but the design pumping speed of the roughing pump is too small. As a result, there is a disadvantage that the exhaust time becomes longer in the transition period from the atmospheric pressure to the ultimate pressure. Therefore, in consideration of both power consumption and exhaust time, the design exhaust speed of the roughing pump B with respect to the design exhaust speed of the booster pump A is preferably 1/5 to 1/100.

  Thus, since the design exhaust speed of the roughing screw pump B is sufficiently small as described above, the screw outer diameter can be reduced. Therefore, since the gap fluctuation due to the thermal expansion in the radial direction is also reduced, the radial gap can be further reduced. As a result, the total gas leakage space is reduced and the sealing performance can be improved. As a result, the roughing screw pump B does not need to increase the number of screw turns for improving the sealing performance, and can reduce its axial length short. Furthermore, it is possible to obtain a high degree of vacuum even if the number of screw turns of the booster pump A is reduced and the gap between the screw and the housing is not accurate, and the axial length of the booster screw pump A is shortened. Can do.

  Here, the number of turns of the male and female screws 120f and 120m of the booster screw pump A is approximately 1, considering the ultimate vacuum and the axial size, or the gas transfer chamber that does not communicate with either the intake port or the exhaust port of the booster pump. At least one number of windings may be formed. The larger the number of turns of the male and female screws 120f, 120m of the roughing screw pump B, the better in relation to the sealing performance. However, since the sealing performance of the present invention is good as described above, it is about 3-7. Good.

  Thus, since the axial length of the booster pump A can be kept short, even if the lead angle of the screw of the booster pump A is increased to increase the conductance, the axial length is not excessive. .

  Here, the lead angle of the female screw 120f of the booster screw pump A is preferably about 30 ° to 60 ° so that the intake-side gas molecules can easily enter the screw groove. In particular, in order to improve the knocking-out effect of the suction side gas molecules by the screw tooth surface, it is preferable to set the angle around 45 °. The lead angle of the female screw 150f of the roughing screw pump B does not need to be increased, and may be about 8 ° to 15 ° in consideration of machining and the axial length.

  Further, since a screw vacuum pump with a simple structure is adopted as the roughing pump, the exhaust passage is simple and short. Therefore, the reaction product is not easily clogged in the exhaust passage, and even if clogged or adhered, maintenance such as removal is facilitated.

Further, in the vacuum exhaust apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, since the rotation shaft of the main screw rotor 120 is different from the rotation shaft of the sub screw rotor 150, these rotors can be designed freely compared to the conventional example shown in FIG. can do. Accordingly, the main screw rotor 120 can be designed so that the outer diameter and the lead of the screw are both large so that the suction conductance is large. Further, the sub screw rotor 150 has a small outer diameter so that the power due to the differential pressure is reduced, that is, the exhaust side transfer chamber 150A has a small volume, and the sealing performance, workability, rotation balance, etc. are taken into consideration. Therefore, the lead angle θ ₁ can also be designed to a value most suitable for processing.

(Second Embodiment)
A vacuum exhaust apparatus 300 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. However, only the points that are substantially different from the first embodiment will be described, and the description of the same configuration as the first embodiment will be omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 4, in the vacuum exhaust apparatus 300 according to the second embodiment, the male and female screw rotors 320f and 320m of the booster pump A have a cantilever structure, and bearings, oil seals, etc. are eliminated from the intake air, thereby bearing lubrication. The back diffusion of oil into the vacuum chamber can be eliminated, and the suction conductance can be improved without obstructing the gas inflow path.

  Moreover, the ratio of the number of teeth of the male and female screw rotors 320f and 320m of the booster pump A is 4: 3 as shown in FIG. 5, and the number of turns of these screws is one. On the other hand, the ratio of the number of screw teeth of the male and female screw rotors 350f and 350m of the roughing pump B is 1: 1 as shown in FIG. 6, and the number of turns of these screws is five.

  Note that the designed pumping speed of the roughing pump B is designed to be about 1/20 as in the first embodiment with respect to the designed pumping speed of the booster pump A, and the vacuum pumping apparatus 300 according to the second embodiment is designed. The operation of is the same as that according to the first embodiment.

  Here, a preferable operation method of the vacuum exhaust apparatus 300 of the second embodiment (the same applies to the first embodiment) will be described below.

(Driving method 1)
FIG. 7 shows the relationship between the suction port 110a side pressure of the vacuum exhaust apparatus 300 and the exhaust speed. In the area Y in the figure, only the roughing pump B is operated. The exhaust speed in this region is equal to the exhaust speed of the roughing pump B. When the pressure at the suction port 110a reaches about 1000 Pa, the operation of the booster pump A is started. From this point, the evacuation speed of the vacuum evacuation apparatus 100 is the same as that of the booster pump A. When used as a semiconductor vacuum evacuation apparatus, the required operating range is approximately 1 to 1000 Pa, so that the exhaust from the atmospheric pressure to about 1000 Pa is performed only by a roughing pump in order to suppress power consumption.

(Driving method 2)
The power consumption W of male and female rotors such as screw type vacuum pumps is expressed by W = a × T × N as shown in the above-mentioned formula (1) as a general formula. From this equation, the design pumping speed of the roughing pump A is designed to be smaller than that of the booster pump A, so that when the torque T is already small, the rotational speed of the male and female rotors can be further reduced. It can be seen that N should be lowered. Therefore, how to reduce the rotation speed N while fully exhibiting the vacuum exhaust capability of the vacuum exhaust apparatus 300 of the present embodiment will be described below.

  FIG. 8 shows the relationship between the rotational speed of the male rotor 320m and the pressure at the suction port 110a at the ultimate pressure of the booster screw pump A. As can be seen from this figure, in the ultimate pressure state, the intake pressure does not change even when the rotational speed is lowered from the point P to the point Q. From this, it can be seen that the ultimate pressure can be maintained by setting the rotation speed to the Q point.

  FIG. 9 shows the number of rotations of the male rotor 320m and the pressure of the suction port 110a in a state where a gas of 0.1 NL / min (where NL represents normal liter) is flowed to the suction port 110a side of the booster screw pump A. The relationship is shown. From this figure, it can be seen that the rotational speed can be lowered from the point R to the point S in the same manner as described above even when a small amount of gas flows to the suction port 110a side.

  From the above, it can be seen that there are optimum rotation speeds according to the respective pressure states of the suction port 110a. The number of revolutions is a rotation that maintains an exhaust speed suitable for exhausting the total amount of gas leaking from the roughing pump B side to the booster pump side and the gas flowing from the intake port 110a to the booster pump A. Is a number. Therefore, the booster pump A can minimize the power consumption in each pressure state by controlling the rotational speed as described above according to the pressure of the intake port 110a.

  Next, FIG. 10 shows the relationship between the intake side pressure of the booster pump A and the exhaust side (rough suction pump suction side) pressure. As can be seen from this graph, the suction pressure of the booster pump A does not change between the point T and the point U in the exhaust side pressure. The pressure at point U is called critical back pressure.

  In the system of this embodiment, the critical back pressure of the booster pump A is maintained by the roughing pump B. Therefore, the rotational speed of the roughing pump B can be lowered to such an extent that the pressure on the exhaust side of the booster pump A (that is, the intake side of the roughing pump) can be kept below the critical back pressure (point U) of the booster pump A. . By doing so, power consumption can be minimized.

(Driving method 3)
The operation method 2 is a case where the suction port 110a side of the vacuum exhaust device 300 is at an ultimate pressure or a vacuum state to some extent. On the other hand, when the evacuation apparatus 300 evacuates the vacuum container connected to the suction port 110a side from the atmospheric pressure, it may be required to make a vacuum (for example, about 1000 Pa) in a short time. In order to meet such a demand, at each instant, the electric motors that drive the booster and the roughing vacuum pumps A and B are controlled so that the number of revolutions is as high as possible within the capacity range. By doing so, it is possible to exhaust the gas efficiently and quickly as compared with the case where the rotation speeds of the pumps A and B are not controlled.

(Driving method 4)
When exhausting from the atmospheric pressure, the exhaust time may be slow, but if you want to keep the instantaneous power low, keep the motor speed of each of the pumps A and B as low as possible, It is better to increase the rotational speed in response to the pressure drop.

The above operation methods 2 to 4 are summarized as follows.
1. Booster pump A
a) When the pressure on the intake port 110a side reaches the ultimate pressure state or a certain vacuum state (for example, about 10 Pa), the rotation speed of the screw rotors 320m and 320f is set to the minimum rotation that can maintain such intake port side pressure. Control to number.
b) When exhausting the vacuum vessel connected to the intake port 110a from the atmospheric pressure,
i) When it is desired to shorten the exhaust time, the rotational speed of the screw rotors 320m and 320f is controlled to be as high as possible at each moment within the range of the drive motor capacity of the booster pump A.
ii) When it is desired to keep the instantaneous power low, the rotational speeds of the screw rotors 320m and 320f are controlled to be as low as possible, and the rotational speed is controlled to increase as the pressure at the intake port 110a decreases.

2. Roughing pump a) When the pressure on the inlet 110a side of the booster pump A reaches the ultimate pressure state or a certain vacuum state (for example, about 10 Pa), the rotational speed of the screw rotors 350f and 350m is changed to the booster pump A The exhaust speed (intake side pressure of the roughing pump) is controlled to the minimum number of rotations that can be maintained in the range below the critical back pressure of the booster pump.
b) When the vacuum vessel connected to the intake port of the booster pump A is exhausted from the atmospheric pressure,
i) When it is desired to shorten the exhaust time, the rotational speed of the screw rotors 350f and 350m is controlled to be as high as possible at each moment within the range of the drive motor capacity of the roughing pump B.
ii) When it is desired to keep the instantaneous power low, the rotational speed of the screw rotors 350f and 350m is controlled to be as low as possible, and the rotational speed is increased as the pressure on the intake side (exhaust side of the booster pump A) decreases. Control.

  By adopting the operation method summarized above, the power consumption of the vacuum evacuation device can be minimized and the energy efficiency can be increased.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the screw type vacuum pump is applied to both the booster pump and the roughing pump has been described. However, based on the present invention, as an application or an approximate form, the screw is used as the booster pump. It is conceivable to use a scroll pump or the like as a roughing pump using a pump with a high compression ratio such as a pump.

  In each of the embodiments described above, the lead angle of the roughing screw pump has been described as not changing in the axial direction. However, as shown in FIG. 11, the lead angle is gradually reduced toward the exhaust port. It may be configured. By doing so, power consumption can be further reduced.

It is sectional drawing of the vacuum exhaust apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a partial expanded sectional view of the vacuum exhaust apparatus shown in FIG. It is a screw part expanded view of the vacuum exhaust apparatus shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing of the vacuum exhaust apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 4 and shows a cross section perpendicular to the axes of the male and female screws 320f and 320m. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VV in FIG. 4 and shows a cross section perpendicular to the axes of the male and female screws 350f and 350m. It is a related figure of the suction side pressure and exhaust speed of the vacuum evacuation device concerning a 2nd embodiment. FIG. 10 is a relationship diagram between the suction side pressure and the number of rotations of a motor 343 when no gas is flowing on the suction side of the booster pump A in the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a relationship diagram between the suction side pressure and the number of rotations of a motor 343 when a small amount of gas is flowing on the suction side of the booster pump A in the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a relationship diagram between an intake side pressure of a booster pump A and an exhaust side (intake side of a roughing pump) pressure in a second embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the conventional vacuum pump. It is a screw part expanded view of the vacuum bomb shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

A Roughing pump B Booster pump 100, 300 Vacuum exhaust device 110a Intake port 110e Exhaust port 120A Intake side transfer chamber 150A Exhaust side transfer chamber

Claims (7)

In a vacuum exhaust system equipped with a roughing pump and a booster pump, each of the roughing pump and booster pump is composed of a screw vacuum pump, and the design pumping speed of the roughing screw vacuum pump is compared with the design pumping speed of the booster screw vacuum pump. An evacuation apparatus characterized in that it is small enough to function as a roughing pump, but the number of turns of the booster screw vacuum pump is smaller than that of the roughing screw vacuum pump. 2. The vacuum exhaust apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a design exhaust speed of the roughing screw vacuum pump is 1/5 to 1/100 of a design exhaust speed of the booster screw vacuum pump. The number of screw turns of the booster screw vacuum pump is approximately 1, or the number of turns in which at least one gas transfer chamber that does not communicate with any of the intake port and the exhaust port of the booster pump is formed. The vacuum evacuation device according to 1. The evacuation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the number of turns of the roughing screw vacuum pump is 3 to 7 turns. The vacuum exhaust apparatus according to claim 1 or 4, wherein a screw lead angle of the booster screw vacuum pump is larger than a screw lead angle of the roughing screw vacuum pump. Only the roughing screw vacuum pump is driven until the suction side pressure of the booster screw vacuum pump drops from the atmosphere to about 13300 Pa. When the suction side pressure of the booster screw vacuum pump becomes about 13300 Pa or less, the booster pump is turned on. 2. The vacuum exhaust apparatus according to claim 1, wherein driving is started. In the range where the suction side pressure of the booster screw vacuum pump is relatively high, the drive motors of the booster screw vacuum pump and the roughing screw vacuum pump should be set within a range in which those motors are not overloaded in order to shorten the exhaust time. When the suction side pressure of the booster screw vacuum pump reaches the ultimate pressure or a relatively low pressure, the booster screw vacuum pump drive motor speed is maintained at the required vacuum level. The required power can be reduced by reducing the rotational speed to the lowest speed and setting the rotational speed of the roughing screw vacuum pump drive motor as low as possible within the range where the back pressure of the booster pump can be maintained below the critical back pressure. The evacuation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

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