JP2010250999A - Heat treatment device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a heat treatment device to be disposed on the lower wall surface of a heating chamber which is superior in manufacturing and service properties, using a simple structure. <P>SOLUTION: The heat treatment device is constituted by making power units 1a-1d, a driving power source unit 2, a central integration unit 3, and a control units 4 install in a fixed integrated unit based on a component mounting plate 8, attaching the component mounting plate 8 to an opening 25 of a body 24, while fitting power propagation shafts 23a-23d set in the power units 1a-1d to holes bored in a heating chamber 6, and attaching feed parts 5a-5d to the power propagation shafts 23a-23d. Accordingly, simple manufacturing, easy handling of components, and marked improvement in service properties are attained. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a heat treatment apparatus including a microwave generation unit configured using a semiconductor element.

  In the conventional microwave processing apparatus of this type, there is one in which at least two antennas connected to a solid-state oscillator are generally arranged on the same wall surface of a heating chamber (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  In this conventional microwave processing apparatus, it has been hardly considered to realize a configuration that is easy to manufacture, has high productivity, and also has high serviceability.

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 52-16654

  However, in the case where a plurality of antennas are arranged on the same wall surface of the heating chamber, the difference from the simple provision of a plurality of antennas is not clear, and the content of the effect of providing the same wall surface, the specific configuration There is no disclosure and only the possibility of realization is shown.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and provides a specific configuration for radiating microwaves radiated from each of a plurality of power feeding units from below, and a microwave processing apparatus mentioned up to manufacturing. For the purpose.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, a microwave processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a body that constitutes a casing outline, an opening provided in a part of the body, a heating chamber disposed inside the body, A power feeding unit that radiates from a plurality of power feeding units provided on one wall surface constituting the chamber is disposed on the bottom surface of the heating chamber.

  Oscillation unit, power distribution unit, phase variable unit that varies the output phase of the power distribution unit, power unit that amplifies the output of the power distribution unit, and microwave that transmits the output of the power unit and reflects in the direction of the power unit Directional coupler for detecting microwave power transmitted through power, detection circuit for attenuating and converting microwave power transmitted and reflected from directional coupler to DC voltage, and microwave transmitted through directional coupler A power supply unit that radiates wave power into the heating chamber and a control unit that processes the output of the detection circuit and controls the microwaves are provided.

  A plurality of power supply portions are provided on one wall surface constituting the heating chamber, and component parts excluding the plurality of power supply portions are arranged and mounted on a component placement plate to form one unit component. It is possible to provide a heat treatment apparatus that is configured to attach it to the opening of the body and attach the power feeding portion to the power propagation shaft protruding from the hole formed in the bottom surface of the heating chamber.

According to the microwave processing apparatus of the present invention, the component parts are grouped together, and the component parts are aggregated as a component part and collected into a simple semi-finished unit, and the workability is greatly simplified by mounting it by a simple operation. In addition, a microwave processing apparatus with improved serviceability can be provided.

The system block diagram of the heat processing apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. 1 is a circuit configuration diagram of a power unit according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Overview of assembly perspective view of main part of heat treatment apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention The fragmentary sectional view seen from the side of the apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention

  1st invention, the body which comprises the outline of an apparatus, the opening provided in the body, the heating chamber which is distribute | arranged inside the body and accommodates a to-be-heated object, the oscillation part, and the output of an oscillation part is divided into multiple Output power distribution unit, a phase variable unit that varies at least one output phase of the power distribution unit, a power unit that amplifies the output of each of the power distribution unit and / or phase variable unit, and the output of the power unit A directional coupler that detects microwave power reflected and transmitted through the power unit, and a detection circuit that attenuates and converts the transmitted and reflected microwave power from the directional coupler into a DC voltage; A power feeding unit that radiates microwave power transmitted from the directional coupler into the heating chamber, and an oscillation frequency of the oscillation unit and a phase amount of the phase variable unit from the output of the detection circuit A control unit, a component mounting plate attached to the opening of the body and provided at the lower part of the heating chamber, a plurality of power supply units on one wall surface constituting the heating chamber, and a component excluding the plurality of power supply units provided It is possible to greatly improve the convenience and serviceability of manufacturing by consolidating them in the lower part of the heating chamber and mounting them on a component mounting plate to form one unit.

  The second aspect of the invention realizes a unitized unitization of parts by configuring the oscillation unit, the power distribution unit, and the phase variable unit on a common base to form a unit as a centralized system unit. Convenience and serviceability can be greatly improved.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, by arranging the directional coupler and the phase variable unit on the power unit to form a unit, it is possible to realize the unitization of parts and greatly improve manufacturing convenience and serviceability. be able to.

  In the fourth invention, the power unit is arranged at the four corners and the power feeding parts are arranged at the same interval. Since the plurality of power feeding parts can be widely dispersed on the bottom surface of the heating chamber, the electromagnetic waves from the power feeding parts are It becomes easy to interfere with each other, and a dynamic change can be obtained by changing the microwave frequency and the phase between the respective power feeding portions of the standing wave in the heating chamber, so that the heating distribution can be easily changed.

  In the fifth invention, the power unit is arranged at the four corners and the power feeding section is arranged at the same interval and has a plurality of the intervals. In order to make the unit shown here into a standard part, various sizes are available. It must be adaptable to the heating chamber. Therefore, regarding the arrangement of the power supply unit, the position of the power supply unit can be selected according to the size of the heating chamber, and options are provided so that an optimum heating distribution can be obtained according to the size of each heating chamber.

  In a sixth aspect of the present invention, a drive power supply unit, a centralized system unit, a power unit and a control unit are arranged in a gap between the power units.

  The seventh invention is such that the component mounting plate on which each component is mounted is attached to the bottom of the body, and the completed unit can be brought close to the completed state with a simple screw tightening. The sex can be greatly improved.

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, a part mounting plate is attached to the opening of the body by passing through a hole formed in the bottom surface of the heating chamber with a power propagation shaft attached to the power unit, and a power feeding unit is disposed on the bottom surface of the heating chamber. By detachably attaching the power supply unit, it is possible to fix the power feeding unit by simple screw tightening after the unit is attached, and the manufacturing convenience and serviceability can be greatly improved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a heat treatment apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The components will be described with reference to FIG. The oscillation unit 12 transmits an original signal in a band of 2400 MHz to 2500 MHz. The power distribution unit 13 distributes the output of the oscillation unit 12 into four. The phase variable units 11 a to 11 d control the phase of the output of each power distribution unit 13. The power units 1a to 1d have a function of amplifying the microwave power from the power distribution unit 13 and are configured using semiconductor elements.

  The power distribution unit 13 may be an in-phase distributor that does not generate a phase difference between outputs such as a Wilkinson distributor, or may generate a phase difference between outputs such as a branch line type or a rat race type. It may be a distributor. The power distribution unit 13 propagates approximately 1/4 of the microwave power input from the oscillation unit 12 to the power units 1a to 1d.

  In addition, the phase variable units 11a to 11d are configured by using a capacitance variable element whose capacitance changes according to the applied voltage, and each phase variable range is a range from 0 degrees to about 180 degrees. Thereby, the phase difference of the microwave power output from the phase varying units 11a to 11d can be controlled in the range of 0 degree to ± 180 degrees.

  The components so far are microwave flow power flows, but they handle relatively small power of about 10 W or less, and can be configured on the same substrate. If this part is made into one unit as the centralized integration unit 3, the effects of manufacturing such as reduction in the number of parts and ease of handling will be exhibited.

  For example, the oscillation unit is an area that is also handled as a relatively general-purpose component. As a substrate having a microstrip line configuration using glass epoxy as a material, the circuit after the power distributor 13 has a relatively large amount of power. Therefore, a microstrip line substrate using Teflon (registered trademark) material is used, and the back side is a ground foil. It is done.

  Further, if the power to be handled can be made relatively low, it can be considered that a single substrate is formed with a glass epoxy substrate.

  The directional couplers 19a to 19b transmit the outputs of the power units 1a to 1d and send part of the transmitted wave power and the reflected wave power to the detection circuit. The detection circuit 20 attenuates, detects, and smooths the microwave power reflected in the power unit direction and the transmitted microwave power to detect it as a DC voltage (transmitted power is Pf and reflected power is Pr). The signal is sent to the control unit 4. The detection circuit 20 will be described later in another drawing.

The power feeding units 5a to 5d radiate the microwave output amplified by the power units 1a to 1d into the heating chamber. The control unit 4 controls the oscillation frequency of the oscillation unit 12 and the phase amounts of the phase variable units 11a to 11d according to Pf and Pr detected by the detection circuit 20. The drive power supply unit 2 is composed of an insulated AC-DC converter with a PFC function and supplies voltages (Vdd, GND) to the power units 1a to 1d.

  The control unit 4 is the load information obtained from the position detection means for detecting the heating condition of the object to be heated and the arrangement position of the object to be heated, or the progress state of the heating process of the object to be heated during heating. Of the driving power supplied to each of the oscillation unit 12 and the power units 1a to 1d, which are constituent elements of the microwave generation unit, based on the heating information obtained from the processing state detection means for detecting the noise and the reflected power information of the detection circuit 20. By controlling the voltage supplied to the control and phase variable portions 11a to 11d, the direction of the microwave excitation electric field is controlled, and the object to be heated housed in the heating chamber 6 is optimally heated.

  Although the details will be described later with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention has a body 24 composed of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped structure for containing an object to be heated, and a heating composed of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped structure disposed therein. The heating chamber 6 includes an opening / closing door (not shown) that opens and closes to store a wall surface made of a metal material and an object to be heated (not shown), and a mounting table 7 on which the object to be heated is placed. The microwave to be supplied is confined inside.

  And the microwave output which generate | occur | produced in power unit 1a-1d is propagated, and the four electric power feeding parts 5a-5d which radiate | emit in the heating chamber 6 respond | corresponded to the position of power unit 1a-1d in the bottom wall surface of the heating chamber 6. Placed in position. The object to be heated is heated by the microwave output radiated from the four power feeding units 1a to 1d.

  Next, the power units 1a to 1d will be described with reference to FIG. A circuit is constituted by a conductor pattern formed on one side of a dielectric substrate made of a low dielectric loss material. The weak microwave output output from the power distribution unit 13 is amplified by each amplification unit (preamplifier a14, preamplifier b15, preamplifier c16), and is amplified to a power of tens of W or more. This portion is referred to as a driver stage 21.

  Since the output stage 22 amplifies a large input power, an amplifying element having a considerably large semiconductor chip is required, and a gain of approximately 10 dB is required due to the parallel connection of the final amplifier a17 and the final amplifier b18. Here, the output stage 22 controls the function. In order to operate the microwave power semiconductor element satisfactorily, matching circuits are arranged on the input side and the output side of each semiconductor element.

  The outputs of the power units 1 a to 1 d are transmitted by the directional coupler 19. Reflection in the direction of the power units 1a to 1d also exists because it is a microwave band circuit. The detection circuit 20 is composed of an attenuator, a detection diode, a smoothing capacitor, etc., and a part of the transmitted power and reflected power is incident and lowered to a low voltage by the attenuator. The control unit 4 can be detected by the detection element and the smoothing circuit. It is converted into a direct current low voltage to obtain Pr and Pf.

  Of course, if the circuit pattern design is skillfully performed, the directional couplers 19a to 19d and the detection circuit 20 can be incorporated into the power units 1a to 1d. If this is realized, the circuit is integrated to reduce the total number of units. However, it is possible to simplify the manufacturing process.

  About the heat processing apparatus comprised as mentioned above, the effect | action and effect are demonstrated below. FIG. 3 is a structural perspective view showing an example of the present heat treatment apparatus.

Here, all of the components are arranged on the bottom surface of the heating chamber 6 arranged inside the body 24 constituting the outer shell. The point here is that the power units 1a to 1d, the drive power supply unit 2, the centralized integration unit 3 and the control unit 4 are all fixedly mounted on the component mounting plate 8 which also serves as an arrangement base and an exterior. Has been. Handling is possible in this state.

  Since the component mounting plate 8 transmits all the microwave power into the heating chamber 6 through the power propagation shafts 23a to 23d, there is no need to consider the leakage of radio waves to the outside of the machine. It is also free to choose.

  As an image of manufacturing, the power units 1 a to 1 d, the drive power supply unit 2, the central concentration integration unit 3, and the control unit 4 are attached and integrated on the component placement plate 8. This operation is pre-assembled in the sub-line and supplied to the main line. In the main line, the integrated unit is fastened to the opening 25 on the bottom surface of the body 24 with the mounting screw 9.

  After fitting into power insertion shafts 23a to 23d inserted in the heating chamber 6 in advance and fastening with mounting screws 9, holes formed in the projecting ends of the feeding portions 5a to 5d having an antenna function made of a metal flat plate Fixing with screws is also possible. This example does not limit the fixing method.

  Details of the implementation will be described with reference to FIG. This figure is a partial cross-sectional view from a side surface of a part of the device. A heating chamber 6 is disposed inside the body 24. The power unit 1 (1a to 1d) and the control unit 4 as well as the drive power supply unit 2 and the centralized central system unit 3 are all arranged on the component placing plate 8, and can be handled in this state.

  The bottom surface of the body 24 is fixed and attached to the body 24 with mounting screws 9 using the opening 25. A hole through which the power propagation shaft 23 passes is formed in the bottom surface of the heating chamber 6. By fitting the power propagation shaft 23 through the hole, the component placing plate 8 on which each component is placed is smooth. It is configured to be attached to the body 24.

  Here, the mounting of the component mounting plate 8 to the opening 25 of the body 24 is the fastening with the mounting screw 9. However, if serviceability is partially ignored, welding or the like can be considered. It is not intended to limit.

  In the case of screws, it goes without saying that the serviceability is very good because the integrated unit, that is, all the parts can be taken out by simply removing these screws without removing the body 24.

  As described above, the heat treatment apparatus according to the present invention can perform heat treatment at a frequency at which the microwave power reflected by a plurality of power supply units provided on one wall surface constituting the heating chamber is minimized. The present invention can also be applied to uses such as a heating device and a garbage processing machine using dielectric heating as typified by a range, or a microwave power source of a plasma power source which is a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1a-1d Power unit 5a-5d Feed part 6 Heating chamber 8 Component mounting board 11a-11d Phase variable part 19a-19d Directional coupler 12 Oscillator 13 Power distribution part 20 Detection circuit 24 Body 25 Opening

Claims (8)

A body that forms an exterior of the device, an opening provided in the body, a heating chamber that accommodates an object to be heated disposed in the body, an oscillation unit, and an output of the oscillation unit are distributed to a plurality of parts. A power distribution unit that outputs power, a phase variable unit that varies at least one output phase of the power distribution unit, a power unit that amplifies the power of each of the outputs of the power distribution unit and / or the phase variable unit, and A directional coupler that transmits the output and detects the microwave power reflected in the direction of the power unit and the transmitted microwave power, and attenuates the transmitted and reflected microwave power from the directional coupler and converts them to a DC voltage. A detection circuit, a power supply unit that radiates microwave power transmitted from the directional coupler into the heating chamber, and an output from the detection circuit A control unit for controlling the oscillation frequency of the vibration unit and the phase amount of the phase variable unit, and a component placement plate provided at the lower part of the heating chamber, and a plurality of the power feeding units on one wall surface constituting the heating chamber. A heat treatment apparatus provided as a single unit by collecting and mounting a plurality of components excluding the power feeding unit provided in a lower part of the heating chamber and mounting the components on the component placement plate. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the oscillation unit, the power distribution unit, and the phase variable unit are mounted on a common base and unitized as a centralized system unit. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the directional coupler and the phase variable unit are arranged on the power unit to form a unit. The heat treatment apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the power unit is arranged at four corners, and the power feeding unit is arranged at a position corresponding to the position of the power unit. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heat treatment apparatus has a plurality of the intervals. The heat treatment apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a drive power supply unit, a centralized central system unit, a power unit and a control unit are arranged in a gap between the power units. The heat treatment apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a component mounting plate on which each component is mounted is attached to the bottom surface of the body. 8. The power transmission shaft attached to the power unit is penetrated through a hole drilled in the bottom surface of the heating chamber, a component mounting plate is attached to the bottom surface of the heating chamber, and a power feeding portion is detachably attached to the power propagation shaft. Heat treatment equipment.