JP2009002403A - Gate vale and method for replacing sealant in gate valve - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a gate vale enabling replacement or maintenance of a sealant without uncoupling a cylinder shaft from a valve plate. <P>SOLUTION: This gate valve includes: a valve box 4; a valve case 21 detachably attached to the side surface of the valve box 4; and cylinder devices 6, 8 reciprocating the valve plate 10 between the valve box 4 and the valve case 21. The cylinder devices 6, 8 are regulated by guides 15 provided on the valve box 4, and are set to be reciprocated on the valve box 4 in a horizontal direction toward the side of the valve case 21. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a gate valve that facilitates replacement of a sealing material and a method of replacing the sealing material in the gate valve.

  In semiconductor manufacturing such as silicon wafers, thin film manufacturing, liquid crystal manufacturing, and the like, processing and processing of workpieces such as ion plating and plasma etching are performed in a high environment under a clean environment. In recent years, these objects to be processed tend to be gradually enlarged. In such a gate valve of a production line that handles a large object to be processed, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, a movement method called a horizontal movement method is adopted (Patent Document 1).

That is, in this gate valve 20, as shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 4, substantially L-shaped mounting brackets 14 are attached to the upper and lower ends of the valve plate 10, and the valve plate 10 attaches these mounting brackets 14 to each other. 3 are movably attached to the upper and lower guide rails 16 and 18 shown in FIG. Further, the tip portions of the shafts 6a and 8a of the cylinder devices 6 and 8 are connected to the tip portions of the mounting brackets 14 so that the valve plate 10 is shown in FIG. It is configured to reciprocate in the direction of the arrow (horizontal direction).
JP 2006-97849 A

  By the way, in such a gate valve 20, as shown in FIG. 4, the ship-shaped sealing material installation groove | channel 10c is formed over the base end 10a and the front-end | tip 10b of the valve plate 10. As shown in FIG. The sealing material mounted in the sealing material mounting groove 10c is periodically replaced or periodically inspected for maintenance.

  In order to replace the sealing material mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the valve plate 10 in the large gate valve 20, first, from the state of FIG. 3, a valve case 21 provided on the side of the valve box 4 and the valve case 4 Release the engagement. Then, the disengaged valve case 21 is pulled out horizontally to the position indicated by the phantom line. Thereafter, the connection between the cylinder devices 6 and 8 and the valve plate 10 is released, and further, the valve plate 10 is moved in the horizontal direction by being supported by the guide rails 16 and 18, and the valve plate 10 is moved outward from the valve box 4. The seal material is exchanged from the exposed state.

Thus, in the conventional vacuum gate valve 20, it is necessary to release the connection between the cylinder devices 6 and 8 and the valve plate 10 in order to replace the sealing material.
On the other hand, when the vacuum gate valve 20 is installed between the process chamber and the transfer chamber, the valve plate 10 often receives heat from the process side in a vacuum environment at all times. It is easy to cause. In such a case, a cooling pipe or the like is routed around the valve plate 10 to forcibly cool the valve plate 10.

  However, in the vacuum gate valve 20 having a structure for forcibly cooling the valve plate 10 with cooling water, when the seal material is replaced from the valve plate 10, the valve plate 10 is pulled out from the valve box 4. At the same time, it is necessary to release the connection between the cylinder plates 6 and 8 and the valve plate 10 as well as the connection between the valve plate 10 and the cooling pipe.

Therefore, in the vacuum gate valve 20 provided with the cooling structure by the cooling water as described above, there is a problem that man-hours for replacement and maintenance of the sealing material are increased, and the procedure is complicated and difficult.

  Furthermore, in the case of releasing the engagement between the cylinder devices 6 and 8 and the valve plate 10 in the large vacuum gate valve 20, the posture of the valve plate 10 becomes unstable when the valve plate 10 is pulled out. There was also a problem that a dedicated jig for preventing the valve plate 10 from falling down had to be prepared.

  In view of such a conventional situation, the present invention has an object to provide a gate valve capable of replacing a sealing material or performing maintenance around the sealing material without releasing the connection between the cylinder shaft and the valve plate. Yes.

  In addition, when releasing the engagement between the valve plate and the cylinder device, there is no need for a dedicated jig to prevent the valve plate from falling down, and a gate valve that can perform seal replacement or maintenance work more easily and safely. It is intended to provide.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides:
A valve case and a valve case removably attached to a side surface of the valve case;
A valve plate for closing or opening an opening provided in the valve box by reciprocating between the valve box and the valve case, and a cylinder device for reciprocating the valve plate,
The cylinder device is regulated by a guide installed on the valve box, and is installed on the valve box so as to be able to reciprocate on the valve case side.

  According to the gate valve having such a configuration, the valve plate is exposed to the outside of the valve box by moving the cylinder device together with the valve plate to the valve case side without releasing the connection between the cylinder shaft and the valve plate. Can be made.

Therefore, it becomes possible to remove the sealing material attached to the valve plate from this state and replace it with a new sealing material.
In addition, a dedicated jig for preventing the valve plate from collapsing is unnecessary, and the seal material can be safely exchanged.

Moreover, the method for replacing the sealing material according to the present invention is as follows.
A valve case and a valve case removably attached to a side surface of the valve case;
A valve plate for closing or opening an opening provided in the valve box by reciprocating between the valve box and the valve case, and a cylinder device for reciprocating the valve plate,
The cylinder device is regulated by a guide installed in the valve box, and is installed movably on the valve case side,
A method of exchanging a sealing material attached to the gate valve,
The valve plate in the valve box is moved to the valve case side by the cylinder device, and the valve plate moving step of opening the opening,
A valve case removing step of removing the valve case from the valve box;
The cylinder device fixed to the valve box, a cylinder and a valve plate moving step that is regulated by a guide and moves on the front valve box to the valve case side;
And a sealing material replacement step capable of performing a replacement operation of the sealing material mounted on the valve plate.

According to such a method, after moving the valve plate to a position where the opening is opened by driving the cylinder device, the valve plate connected to the cylinder device is moved by moving the cylinder device to the valve case side. Can be exposed from the valve box. If the valve plate is exposed at such a position, replacement and maintenance of the sealing material can be performed safely without releasing the connecting portion between the cylinder shaft and the valve plate.

  According to the vacuum gate valve and the method for replacing the seal material in the gate valve according to the present invention, the seal material attached to the valve plate can be easily removed without removing the connection between the cylinder device and the valve plate. Can be replaced with material. Further, no special jig is required to prevent the valve plate from collapsing when the sealing material is exchanged. In addition, maintainability is also good.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
1 and 2 show a gate valve in which a sealing material replacement method according to an embodiment of the present invention is implemented, and particularly shows a large vacuum gate valve 30 called a one-action type. Is. In the following description, the words indicating directions such as “right”, “left”, “up”, and “down” are based on the state of FIG. 1, and the horizontal direction is the same as the horizontal direction. is there.

Further, in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the same elements as those in FIG. 3 and FIG.
The vacuum gate valve 30 includes a valve box 4, a valve case 21 detachably attached to the side of the valve box 4, a valve plate 10 that reciprocates between the valve box 4 and the valve case 21, And cylinder devices 6 and 8 for reciprocating the valve plate 10.

The substantially box-shaped valve box 4 includes a valve box body 4a and a flange portion 4b, and a gate opening 12 is formed.
A guide rail 18 extending to the inside of the valve case 21 is disposed on the lower inner wall surface of the valve box 4.

The valve case 21 constitutes a container for the valve plate 10 when the valve plate 10 is guided from the valve box 4, and is detachably attached to the flange portion 4 b of the valve box 4.
The valve plate 10 has substantially the same shape as the valve plate 10 shown in FIG. 4, and a plurality of rollers 52 and a shaft coupling member 13 corresponding to the mounting bracket 14 shown in FIG. 4 are installed.

The shaft connecting member 13 is integrated with the shafts 6 a and 8 b of the upper and lower cylinder devices 6 and 8.
With such a configuration, as the cylinder devices 6 and 8 are driven, the valve plate 10 moves linearly in a single horizontal direction, thereby opening and closing the gate opening 12 formed in the valve box 4. It has a structure.

The cylinder devices 6 and 8 are composed of shafts 6a and 8a and casings 6b and 8b.
The shafts 6a and 8a of the cylinder device are inserted into a shaft seal portion 65 formed in the flange portion 4b of the valve box 4, and are slidable in the left-right direction while holding the inside of the valve box 4 and the valve case 21 in an airtight manner. It has become.

Hereinafter, attachment of the valve box body 4a and the cylinder devices 6 and 8 will be described in detail.
Guides 15, 15 are integrally installed on the upper and lower surfaces of the valve box body 4 a, and a base plate 19 is movably installed with respect to the guide 15. A cylinder mounting bracket 23 is installed on the base plate 19, and the casings 6 b and 8 b of the cylinder devices 6 and 8 are mounted on the base plate 19 via the cylinder mounting bracket 23.

With such a configuration, the casings 6 b and 8 b can be moved in the left-right direction with respect to the guide 15 together with the base plate 19.
The valve plate 10 of the vacuum gate valve 30 moves in the left-right direction as the shafts 6a, 8a move, and the valve plate 10 further moves in the left-right direction as the casings 6b, 8b move.

The gate valve 30 according to this embodiment is configured as described above, and the operation thereof will be described below.
The valve plate 10 and the cylinder device 6 are now in the state shown in FIG. At this time, the valve plate 10 to which the endless seal material 24 is attached comes into contact with a seal seat surface (not shown) formed in the valve box, and the gate opening 12 is closed. Most of the shafts 6a and 8a of the cylinder devices 6 and 8 are immersed in the casings 6b and 8b.

When the cylinder devices 6 and 8 are driven from the state shown in FIG. 1, first, the shafts 6a and 8a of the cylinder devices 6 and 8 project rightward. When the shafts 6 a and 8 a protrude and move in the right direction, the valve plate 10 connected via the shaft connecting member 13 is guided into the valve case 21 on the guide rail 18 by the rotation of the roller 52.

Thereby, the valve plate 10 can move in the horizontal direction in a stable state as the cylinder shafts 6a and 8a move in the horizontal direction, and the gate opening 12 is opened.
When the gate opening 12 is opened and closed, the cylinder devices 6 and 8 are in a normal use state.
The casings 6b and 8b are fixed at the positions shown in FIG.

Next, when the replacement work of the sealing material 24 mounted on the valve plate 10 is performed, the gate valve 30 is moved from the state shown in FIG. As a result, it moves into the valve case 21 to open the gate opening 12.

Then, the engagement between the valve case 21 and the valve box 4 is released, and the released valve case 21 is pulled out horizontally to the position shown in FIG.
Thereafter, the casings 6b and 8b of the cylinder devices 6 and 8 fixed to the valve box body 4a in the state of FIG. 1 are moved rightward.

As a result, the valve plate 10 of the gate valve 30 is completely exposed from the valve box 4 as shown in FIG.
The casings 6 b and 8 b are fixed to the base plate 19 with a cylinder mounting bracket 23, are regulated by guides 15 and 15 that are integrally installed on the upper and lower surfaces of the valve box body 4 a, and are moved horizontally with the base plate 19.

Note that when the casings 6b and 8b move, the protruding lengths of the cylinder shafts 6a and 8b are maximum.
When the casings 6b and 8b move horizontally to the right end of the guides 15 and 15, the valve plate 10 connected to the cylinder shafts 6a and 8b is completely exposed from the valve box 4 as shown in FIG.

Therefore, from this state, it becomes possible to replace the seal member attached to the tip of the valve plate 10.
The gate opening 12 formed in the valve box 4 has an opening diameter of about 1 meter. In the gate valve 30 of the present embodiment, the valve plate 10 is large and heavy, but is supported by the pair of cylinder devices 6 and 8 and the guide rail 18, so there is no risk of dropping downward, and a special treatment is required. It is possible to replace the sealing material without using tools.

Thus, in the gate valve 30 of this embodiment, the shafts 6a and 8a are first moved to the right, then the valve case 21 is removed, and the casings 6b and 8b are moved to the right. The order is not particularly limited, and the seal member can be replaced with a new one as long as the state shown in FIG.

As mentioned above, although one Example of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said Example at all.
For example, when performing maintenance such as checking the state of the seal member and the valve plate instead of replacing the seal, the maintenance can be performed if the same state as described above is used.

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a closed state of a vacuum gate valve in which a sealing member replacement method according to an embodiment of the present invention is implemented. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state of the vacuum gate valve shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional vacuum gate valve. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the valve plate employed in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

4 Valve box 4a Valve body 4b Flange parts 6, 8 Cylinder devices 6a, 8a Shafts 6b, 8b Casing 10 Valve plate 10a Base end 10b Tip 10c Seal member mounting groove 12 Gate opening 13 Shaft connecting member 14 Mounting bracket 15 Guide 16 , 18 Guide rail 19 Base plate 20 Vacuum gate valve 21 Valve case 23 Cylinder mounting bracket 25 Stopper 30 Vacuum gate valve

Claims (2)

A valve case and a valve case removably attached to a side surface of the valve case;
A valve plate for closing or opening an opening provided in the valve box by reciprocating between the valve box and the valve case, and a cylinder device for reciprocating the valve plate,
The gate valve is characterized in that the cylinder device is regulated by a guide installed in the valve box, and is installed on the valve box so as to be reciprocally movable toward the valve case. A valve case and a valve case removably attached to a side surface of the valve case;
A valve plate for closing or opening an opening provided in the valve box by reciprocating between the valve box and the valve case, and a cylinder device for reciprocating the valve plate,
The cylinder device is regulated by a guide installed in the valve box, and is installed movably on the valve case side,
A method of exchanging a sealing material attached to the gate valve,
The valve plate in the valve box is moved to the valve case side by the cylinder device, and the valve plate moving step of opening the opening,
A valve case removing step of removing the valve case from the valve box;
The cylinder device fixed to the valve box, a cylinder and a valve plate moving process that is regulated by a guide and moves the valve box to the valve case side,
A sealing material replacement step in which a sealing material mounted on the valve plate can be replaced, and a sealing material replacement method for a gate valve.

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