JP2009076831A - Adjustment of tilt angle of jetting port and air quantity of suction port of air cleaner head - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that the operation rate in production line processes decrease since the conventional air cleaner device has limits in release efficiency of stuck fine dust and collection efficiency of scattered fine dust, and in addition, causes chattering (abnormal vibration). <P>SOLUTION: Air cleaner heads 20 and 21 of an upper stage and a lower stage are provided with an inclined jetting port 22 inclined at 30 to 80° with respect to a horizontal surface and also provided with an air quantity control valve 24 for controlling balance in suction air quantity between a suction port (1)13 and a suction port (2)14 to adjust a suction air quantity. A jet flow strikes straight on the lower side of stuck fine dust 17 on a plane plate 19 without being bent halfway to facilitate releasing and then improve collection efficiency. Further, the travel direction of the plane plate 19 is aligned with the direction of the jet flow from the inclined jetting port 22 and then the plane plate 19 can smoothly travel with assistance of pushing operation, so that stable production can be carried out without chattering (abnormal vibration) nor a temporary stop of the production line. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  With the recent development and development of miniaturization, miniaturization, and sophistication of digital electronic devices and semiconductor components, the presence and adhesion of fine dust in the air is increasingly affected by the quality and retention of products. The present invention relates to an air cleaner device that removes the adhering fine dust 17 by exerting a great influence on the stabilization of the manufacturing process and the lifetime.

  In particular, among these digital electronic devices, the separation efficiency of the attached fine dust 17 and the collection efficiency of the scattered fine dust 18 on the surfaces of wafers, substrates, electronic components, liquid crystal glass (hereinafter referred to as a flat plate 19), and the like. As a method for stabilizing and improving the above, the cross-sectional structure of the cleaner head and the traveling direction of the flat plate 19 in the air cleaner apparatus are concerned.

  A push-pull type air cleaner apparatus in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that has been conventionally used is configured as shown in FIG. The structure includes an upper cleaner head 1, a lower cleaner head 2, a pressure and a blower 3 as a vacuum air source, a HEPA filter 4 for purifying the pressurized air supplied by the cleaner head, and fine dust sucked from each cleaner head. The pre-filter 5 to collect, the damper 6 which adjusts an air volume (pressure), the hose pipe 7 which connects these, etc.

  This system is a closed loop (closed circuit) system, and it is an air circulation system that has a vacuum function to supply and eject pressurized air to one blower 3 and suck fine dust. However, there is an advantage that the equipment cost is low without breaking the air balance in the room.

  When the pressure of the blower 3 is increased, the air temperature rises due to the compression heat of the air. Therefore, attention must be paid to the flat plate 17 and parts / materials that are easily affected by temperature.

  Next, the cross-sectional shapes of the conventional upper and lower air cleaner heads 1 and 2 are shown in FIG. Its cross-sectional shape has a pressure chamber 8 and its outlet 12, a vacuum chamber (1) 9 and its suction port (1) 13 on both sides, and a vacuum chamber (2) 10 and its suction port (2) 14. The dust collecting surface 11 is a smooth flat surface.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the air flow is performed by supplying clean pressurized air from the pressure chamber 8 to the upper surface and the lower surface on the surface of the flat plate 19 running on the transport roller 23 via the outlet 12. The fine dust 18 is sucked and collected from the suction port (1) 13 and the suction port (2) 14 provided at both ends of the jet port 12 by spraying from the nozzle and applying an impact force to the attached fine dust 17 It is a system to do.

In the conventional air cleaner apparatus, when the flat plate 19 that travels on the conveying roller 23 comes directly below the jet outlet 12, as shown in FIG. An impact force is applied to 17, peeled off from the adhesion surface, floated, and moved to suction port (1) 13 and suction port (2) 14 to suck scattered fine dust 18.
However, the pressurized air from the upper part and the lower part presses the attached fine dust 17 and the peeling from the attached surface is insufficient in some cases, and there remains a problem that the collection efficiency of the scattered fine dust 18 is lowered.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, when the tip of the flat plate 19 comes directly under the jet port 12, the pressurized air goes around the lower side and the upper side of the flat plate 19, and chattering occurs due to disturbance of the air balance. (Abnormal vibration) occurs, and the phenomenon that the flat plate 19 sticks to the suction port (2) 14 occurs, causing a problem of temporarily stopping the production line, which needs to be resolved.

  Furthermore, when the tip of the flat plate 19 comes to a position directly below and above the jet outlet 12, the jet flow of pressurized air blocks the forward movement of the tip of the flat plate 19, and in this case also the production line Will cause trouble to temporarily stop and need to be resolved.

The occurrence of this chattering (abnormal phenomenon) is also present when the rear end of the flat plate 19 passes directly below and above the jet outlet 12 as shown in FIG. It is necessary to solve the trouble.
For this reason, it may affect the collection efficiency of fine dust and the stabilization of the production line, and may influence the selection of blower capacity.

  Accordingly, there is a demand for stable operation that eliminates chattering (transitional vibration) of the flat plate 19 and does not reduce the collection efficiency of the scattered fine dust 18.

Means to solve the problem

  In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 6, the jet angle of the jet port 12 of the conventional upper and lower air cleaner heads 1 and 2 is processed at an angle appropriately selected from the range of 30 to 80 degrees with respect to the horizontal. New upper stage. By providing the inclined outlets 22 of the lower air cleaner heads 20 and 21, as shown in FIG. 12, it is possible to efficiently eject pressurized air between the adhered fine dust 17 and the plane plate 19 surface. Furthermore, it becomes easier to peel off, and the collection efficiency of the scattered fine dust 18 is further improved.

  Furthermore, it has been found from various experiments and calculations that even if only the jet nozzle part is tilted, the jet flow does not flow in the tilt direction as shown in FIG.

Then, as shown in FIG. 10, the jet flow in the tilt direction of the tilt jet port 22 may be deformed by the balance of the suction air volume at the suction port (1) 13 and the suction port (2) 14 located on both sides. found.
As shown in FIG. 11, in order to smoothly flow the jet flow in the tilt direction from the tilt jet port 22 in the tilt direction, the suction air volume at the suction port (2) 14 is changed to the suction port (1) 13. It was found that there is an appropriate balance ratio in which the flow of the jet flow does not bend by making it a small amount of 20% or less than the suction air volume in the air.

  This is because the jet flow from the jet nozzle 12 and the inclined jet nozzle 22 has a very narrow space between the dust collecting surface 11 and the flat plate 19 of 1 to 2 mm. It is susceptible to the influence of the suction air volume of the mouth (2) 14. In particular, even in the jet flow from the inclined jet port 22, the influence of the air volume of the suction port (2) 14 located on the upstream side is large, and the jet flow is deformed.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, in order for the jet flow to directly hit the flat plate 19, the air volume of the suction port (2) 14 is adjusted to an appropriate amount of 20% or less of the air volume of the suction port (1) 13. A structure that can be done is necessary.
For that purpose, it can be solved by installing the necessary quantity of the air volume adjusting valve 24 at an appropriate position in the vacuum chamber (2) 10.

  If the jet flow smoothly flows in the inclined direction, the attached fine dust 17 on the flat plate 19 is more easily separated, and the collection efficiency of the scattered fine dust 18 is further improved.

  In the case where the flat plate 19 is caused to travel to this jet flow part, there are problems such as chattering (abnormal vibration) and stoppage in the jet flow as described above, but as shown in FIG. The problem can be solved by running in the flow direction.

The invention's effect

  The first effect of the present invention is that the separation efficiency of the attached fine dust 17 on the flat plate 19 and the collection efficiency of the scattered fine dust 18 are improved by 20% or more compared with the prior art. By improving the quality of the face plate 19 and reducing unnecessary pressurized air, it can contribute to cost reduction.

  The second effect is that the flow 15 of the jet flow air is smooth and the air balance up and down of the flat plate 19 is improved, so that chattering (abnormal vibration) does not occur at all, and the flat plate 19 Can solve the problems of sticking to the suction port (1) 13 and the suction port (2) 14, eliminating the temporary stop of the production line and contributing to the maintenance of a stable production process.

  Furthermore, the third effect is that the jet flow does not block the tip of the flat plate 19 as in the prior art, but rather the effect of pushing in the flow direction that helps the flat plate 19 travel is generated. Furthermore, it can contribute to the improvement of the peeling efficiency of the attached fine dust 17 and the stable operation of the production line.

In the best mode for carrying out the invention, as shown in FIG. 6, an inclined outlet 22 of θ = 60 ± 5 degrees with respect to a horizontal plane is provided in each of the upper and lower air cleaner heads 20, 21. provided 8 side of the dust-collecting surface 11, the inlet (1) 13 at an appropriate distance L ₁ on the downstream side from the spout position, providing the inlet (2) 14 at an appropriate distance L ₂ upstream .

  Further, by installing the necessary quantity of the air volume adjusting valve 24 at an appropriate position of the suction port (2) 14, the flow of the jet flow is not deformed and directly hits the flat plate 19 and the separation efficiency of the attached fine dust 17 is increased. To improve the collection efficiency of the scattered fine dust 18.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the flat plate 19 is smoothly jetted by matching the flow direction of the pressurized air jets of the upper and lower cleaner heads 20 and 21 as shown in FIG. Since there is less disturbance in the air balance, chattering (abnormal vibration) is eliminated, and the jet flow acts to push the flat plate 19 in the direction of travel. Therefore, it is possible to improve the peeling efficiency of the attached fine dust 17 and contribute to the stable operation of the production line.

Therefore, in order to determine appropriate dimensions, an experimental device is created, an experiment is performed, and the experimental result is verified.
The cleaner head of the new experimental air cleaner apparatus is an experimental apparatus (A), (B) in which the inclination angle θ of the inclined outlet 22 is changed as shown in FIG. 6, and 3 of the conventional apparatus as shown in FIG. The following two items of evaluation experiments were performed by changing the line speed ν to the type.

1. Evaluation item (1) Presence / absence of chattering (visual)
(2) Fine dust collection ability (particle counter)

2. Test conditions (1) Base material: PET film (2) Fine dust: Environmental dust (PSL)
(3) Blowing air pressure: 15 kpa
(4) Base material and gap: H ₁ = about _{1 to} 2.5 mm
(5) Line speed: 20m / min and 30m / min

3. Type of experimental apparatus (1) Experimental apparatus (A): outlet groove width: W ₁ = 1.0 mm, outlet angle: θ = 60 °
: Pressure chamber angle: θ = 60 °
: Suction port groove width: W ₂ = 2.0 mm, Suction port groove width: W ₃ = 1.5 mm
(2) Experimental apparatus (B): outlet groove width: W ₁ = 1.0 mm, outlet angle: θ = 60 °
: Pressure chamber angle: θ = 60 °
: Suction port groove width: W ₂ = 2.0 mm, Suction port groove width: W ₃ = 2.5 mm
(3) Experimental apparatus (C): outlet width: W ₁ = 1.0 mm, outlet angle: θ = 90 °
: Pressure chamber angle: θ = 90 °
: Suction groove width: W ₂ = W ₃ = 2.5 mm,
* Experimental equipment (C) is a conventional equipment.

Experimental result

From the experimental results, the apparatus of the present invention has improved the separation efficiency of the attached fine dust 17 and the collection efficiency of the scattered fine dust 18 as compared with the conventional apparatus, and has no chattering (abnormal vibration). Judge that it can be achieved.
This effect can contribute to the stabilization of the manufacturing process and the improvement of operation efficiency, and further to cost reduction.

Industrial applicability is considered to be optimal for a cleaning apparatus for fine dust adhered on the surface of a semiconductor substrate, a high value-added film, a glass plate, a thin plate or the like.
In particular, the demand for thin glass plates as the flat plates 19 is expected to increase due to the expansion of capital investment accompanying the increasing size of liquid crystal televisions and plasma televisions.

Even if the width of the glass plate as the flat plate 19 is 2 to 3 m, the new air cleaner device of the present invention can easily cope with the method in which the pressurized air is ejected uniformly.
At present, the glass plate is in operation until the width of the glass plate reaches about 1.5 m, and the possibility of being used for future enlargement can be expected to increase more and more.

  As other fields, application to photographic paper, high-quality paper, pharmaceuticals, nanotech products, and components is also in view.

  Configuration diagram of push-pull type air cleaner   Cross section of a conventional air cleaner head   Explanatory drawing of air flow on dust collecting surface of conventional air cleaner head   Explanatory diagram of air flow to initial target product of conventional air cleaner head   Explanatory diagram of air flow to the target product of the conventional air cleaner head   Sectional view of the air cleaner head (inclined outlet) of the present invention   Air flow explanatory diagram of dust collecting surface of air cleaner head of the present invention   Air flow explanatory diagram of the initial product of the air cleaner head of the present invention   Explanatory drawing of air flow from jet port of conventional air cleaner head   Air flow explanatory drawing (1) from the jet port of the air cleaner head of the present invention   Air flow explanatory drawing (2) from the outlet of the air cleaner head of the present invention   Peeling state diagram of adhering fine dust

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Upper air cleaner head 2 Lower air cleaner head 3 Blower 4 HEPA filter 5 Pre filter 6 Air volume adjustment valve 7 Hose and pipe 8 Pressure chamber 9 Vacuum chamber (1)
10 Vacuum room (2)
11 Dust Collection Surface 12 Jet Port 13 Suction Port (1)
14 Suction port (2)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 Air flow 16 Eddy current 17 Adhering fine dust 18 Scattering fine dust 19 Plane plate 20 New upper air cleaner head 21 New lower air cleaner head 22 Inclined outlet 23 Conveying roller 24 Air volume adjustment valve

Claims (3)

  Two inclined nozzle outlets 22 are set at both ends of the pressure chamber 8 with the jet angle of the jet outlet 12 of the pressurized air of the air cleaner head set to an appropriate angle of 30 to 80 degrees with respect to the horizontal plane. Of the vacuum chamber, the downstream side of the jet flow is the vacuum chamber (1) 9, the suction port is the suction port (1) 13, the upstream side of the jet flow is the vacuum chamber (2) 10, and the suction port is sucked An air cleaner device having a cross-sectional structure with a mouth (2) 14.   In order for the jet flow from the inclined jet ports 22 of the air cleaner heads 20, 21 having the cross-sectional structure set in claim 1 to peel off the attached fine dust 17 on the flat plate 19, the flow direction of the jet flow bends. However, it is most important that it hits between the adhering fine dust 17 and the flat plate 19, so that the ratio of the suction air volume of the suction port (1) 13 and the suction port (2) 14 can be adjusted. An air cleaner device having a cross-sectional structure in which an air volume adjusting valve 24 is set at an appropriate position in the vacuum chamber (2) 10.   The direction in which the flat plate 19 travels on the air cleaner heads 20 and 21 having the cross-sectional structure set in claim 1 is matched to the direction of the jet flow from the inclined jet port 22 to prevent temporary stop and chattering (abnormal vibration) Air cleaner device that can be used.

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