JP3923761B2 - Wet treatment apparatus and wet treatment system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for performing wet processing (cleaning, etching, plating, development, peeling, polishing, etc.) of minute parts in the fields of machinery, electronics, optics, and the like.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In the fields of machinery, electronics, optics, etc., a wet processing apparatus as shown in FIG. 6 is employed for cleaning and other wet processes on the industrial scale of micro parts. Here, typical examples of the minute parts include magnetic applied parts such as ferrite after grinding, small lenses for optical devices, and the like.
In the apparatus of FIG. 6, the workpiece 2 placed in a wire mesh or a dedicated holding container 35 is immersed in the processing tank 3 in which the processing liquid 5 is stored, and ultrasonic vibration installed at the bottom of the processing tank 3. An ultrasonic wave from the child 4 is applied to the workpiece 2 to perform a wet process. In the case of a cleaning process for the purpose of removing dirt, at least a processing tank 3, a rinsing tank 41, and a drying tank 42 are provided, and each processing is performed while conveying the workpiece 2 in the direction of the arrow in the figure.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the apparatus having the above-described configuration, for the purpose of increasing the throughput (processing amount per unit time), a large number of objects to be cleaned 2 are placed in the holding container 35 at a time, and the containers are lifted and moved by the transfer machine. The method of immersing in the liquid in the tank is taken. In the wet processing of such a method, it is difficult to make the flow of the processing liquid in the holding container 35 uniform, and so-called dead space is generated due to the uneven flow, and the processing tends to be non-uniform.
[0004]
In order to avoid this problem, in the wet processing apparatus of the conventional example, each holding tank 35 is designed to be sufficiently large so that the internal space is widened to facilitate the flow of the processing liquid, and each tank is designed to have a large size. A design is adopted in which a large amount of processing liquid is retained compared to the volume of the liquid and a rocking mechanism for up and down, left and right, or a liquid circulation mechanism is provided. Therefore, the size of the apparatus is increased, the occupation area is large, the structure is complicated, the amount of processing liquids and rinsing liquids to be handled is large, and it is inevitable that the power consumption increases as a result.
[0005]
Wet processing of magnetic application product parts or micro-optical parts is inherently disliked of contamination such as dust and dust, and in recent years, processing in a clean room has become common. From such a background, the solution of the above-mentioned problem that the apparatus is large and consumes a large amount of power has been recognized as an urgent problem.
[0006]
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and is small in size, occupying a small area of the apparatus, and can uniformly treat each workpiece even with a small amount of processing liquid, and lowers the throughput. It is an object of the present invention to provide a wet processing apparatus capable of continuously processing an object to be processed so that it does not occur.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
As a result of various investigations on the structure of the processing apparatus, the inventors have formed a retention portion of the processing liquid in a gap having a width that allows the object to be processed to pass through the formation of the liquid surface due to the surface tension of the processing liquid. It is possible to find and propose that the object can be achieved by an apparatus for processing an object to be processed while passing through the staying portion.
[0008]
That is, the present invention provides a tubular member having both ends as an inlet and an outlet for an object to be processed, each provided with at least one opening serving as a supply portion and an outlet portion for processing liquid, and an inside of the tubular member. , conveying the carry-in port, and a retention portion of the processing liquid for the wet treatment is formed so as to have a liquid surface in contact with the atmosphere out port, wherein to said outlet port of the object to be treated from said inlet port to tubular member And a pressure adjusting means for adjusting the pressure of the processing liquid in the staying part so as not to break the liquid surface, and at both ends of the tubular member so that the liquid to be processed is kept inside. The inner lower surface is inclined toward both ends, and a large number of the objects to be processed in the tubular member are opposite to each other in the transport direction of the object to be processed and the direction in which the processing liquid flows. To the inside of the workpiece A wet processing device for connection to the wet process. By adopting this configuration, the surface tension for maintaining the liquid level may be a small value, and a stable liquid surface can be formed even in the case of a processing liquid having a relatively small surface tension. However, it becomes a high-throughput wet processing apparatus capable of uniformly processing each workpiece.
[0009]
The present invention is the wet processing apparatus , wherein the transport mechanism includes a belt that passes through the tubular member and transports the object to be cleaned. Further, the transfer mechanism introduces the workpieces sequentially from the carry-in port, and pushes the workpieces introduced earlier with the workpiece to be fed later, thereby pushing the workpieces from the carry-in port to the carry-out port. It may be one that conveys within the member .
[0010]
Further, in the present invention, a tubular member placed horizontally may be used as the constituent member. Since the circumferential direction of the staying portion is regulated by the tube wall and the liquid level is only in the axial direction, the staying portion is further stabilized. In the present invention, the constituent member may be a tubular member having a cross-sectional circle placed almost horizontally. The circular cross section is the shape in which the liquid level in the axial direction is most stable.
[0011]
The present invention, of the outer surface of the structural member, by ultrasonic vibration device is attached to a position corresponding to the retaining part, the efficiency of c E Tsu preparative process by the effect of ultrasonic vibrations is improved.
[0012]
Further, in the present invention, one of the openings at both ends of the tubular member is used as a carry-in port for the workpiece, and the other as a carry-out port, and the workpiece is conveyed from the carry-in port to the carry-out port. Thus, the throughput of the wet process is improved. Furthermore, the present invention is a wet processing system characterized in that a drying unit having an air knife is provided immediately after the carry-out port of the wet processing apparatus. Since the wet process to the dry process are continuously performed, a more efficient process is possible.
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is an outline view of the main part of the wet processing apparatus of the present invention, and shows an example in which a tubular member 1 having a rectangular cross section is used as a constituent member. The tubular member 1 is provided with a treatment liquid supply port 11 and a discharge port 12 and is held almost horizontally, and the wet treatment liquid retention portion 33, which is a feature of the present invention, is formed inside the tubular member 1. Has been. In the figure, the conveyance mechanism for the workpiece is omitted.
FIG. 2 is a view showing the whole of the wet processing apparatus of the present invention including the transport mechanism of the workpiece 2 in a longitudinal section of the tubular member 1. Openings 13 and 14 at both ends of the tubular member 1 also serve as a carry-in port and a carry-out port for the workpiece 2, respectively. 6 is a belt that conveys the workpiece 2 and 4 is an ultrasonic transducer. In addition, the ultrasonic transducer | vibrator 4 may be attached to the lower part 21 in the figure of the tubular member 1. FIG.
[0014]
The processing liquid is supplied from the processing liquid supply port 11 and discharged from the discharge port 12. Although not shown, the wet processing apparatus of the present invention is provided with a processing liquid supply pump and a discharge pump, which are connected to a supply port 11 and a discharge port 12, respectively. The treatment liquid is supplied and discharged by operating these pumps. On the other hand, the workpiece 2 is introduced from the carry-in port 13 and is conveyed toward the carry-out port 14, and wet processing is performed by the action of ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic transducer 4 while passing through the staying portion 33 of the treatment liquid. The
[0015]
The pressure of the processing liquid is monitored by a pressure sensor 50 placed in the staying portion 33, and the supply pressure and discharge (suction) pressure of the processing liquid are balanced by a pressure adjusting means (not shown) to be within an appropriate range. It is adjusted to become. As a result, the pressure of the processing liquid in the staying part 33 is controlled within a range that does not break the liquid surface formed in the openings 13 and 14 by the surface tension of the processing liquid, and the staying part 33 is stably held. As a result, the only processing liquid carried out of the apparatus adheres to the workpiece 2 and the belt 6, and most of the processing liquid is recovered from the discharge port 12. It is preferable to provide a rectification mechanism in the vicinity of the treatment liquid supply port 11 and the discharge port 12. In this embodiment, the rectification mechanisms 9 a and 9 b are attached to both the supply port 11 and the discharge port 12 at the positions shown in the figure. It has been.
[0016]
Taking a ceramic part having a diameter of about 3 mm and a length of about 2 mm as an example of the workpiece 2 to be processed by the apparatus of the present invention, the inner dimension of the tubular member 1 is as follows when processing such a part, for example, cleaning. The width is about 4 mm and the height is about 5 mm. The length of the tubular member 1 is determined by the state to be processed, but is about 200 mm in the case of the cleaning process of the object to be processed with a relatively small amount of contamination. The ultrasonic vibrator uses a 200 KHz vibrator having a width of 35 mm and a length of 165 mm. In this case, the amount of the processing (cleaning) liquid is only 4 cc in terms of the residence in the tubular member 1. When the object to be cleaned 2 is transported at 2 to 3 mm per second, the cleaning time is about 1 second, and the cleaning liquid needs to flow at a speed of about 3 mm per second in the direction opposite to the object to be cleaned 2. In that case, the supply amount of the cleaning liquid is 3.6 cc / min. Thus, a sufficient cleaning effect can be obtained with an extremely small amount of liquid compared to the conventional example.
[0017]
In this embodiment, the vertical dimension of the openings at both ends is 8 mm or less, and as cleaning liquid, pure water, hydrogen-dissolved water (water in which hydrogen gas is dissolved), ozone water (water in which ozone gas is dissolved), or the like. Use. Since these cleaning liquids have a surface tension close to that of water at room temperature and are approximately 74 dyn / cm, the liquid surface is stably formed in a gap having a vertical dimension of 8 mm or less. That is, the cleaning liquid hardly spills from the openings 13 and 14 at both ends of the tubular member 1, and the object to be cleaned 2 can be cleaned in this state.
[0018]
The belt 6 that conveys the workpiece 2 is made of stainless steel, has a thickness of 0.05 mm, a width of 3 mm, and a length of 500 mm. The belt is moved at a constant speed by two large pulleys 7a and 7b and two small pulleys 8a and 8b. In this embodiment, 3 mm / sec. It was.
The belt 6 that conveys the workpiece 2 may be replaced with other conveyance means. For example, the workpiece 2 may be sequentially introduced from the carry-in entrance 13 and conveyed by pushing the workpiece 2 introduced earlier with the workpiece 2 fed later.
[0019]
In the present embodiment, rinsing can be performed by connecting the same type of apparatus to the above-described processing apparatus. In other words, the rinsing may be performed in exactly the same manner only by replacing the treatment liquid with the rinsing liquid. Moreover, by providing a drying unit immediately after the carry-out port of the wet processing apparatus to configure the wet processing system, it is possible to continuously perform from wet processing to drying, thereby enabling more efficient processing.
[0020]
Here, as the drying unit, one having a conventionally used air knife is preferably used in combination with the wet processing apparatus of the present invention. Or the method of using the apparatus of the same form as the wet processing apparatus of this invention as a small dryer by flowing dry air in the tubular member 1 may be used.
[0021]
In a conventional general processing apparatus in which a processing tank, a rinsing tank, and a drying tank are juxtaposed, each tank has a small volume of about 0.01 m3, and the overall size of the apparatus is 4 m in length and width. It was about 1 m and 2 m in height. In the wet processing apparatus of the present invention, the length, width, and height can be reduced to 1/10 or less of the longitudinal apparatus even if all the processes of treatment, rinsing, and drying are included. That is, the device volume can be 1/1000 or less.
[0022]
[Second Embodiment]
A wet processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. The same code | symbol is provided to the member which is common in 1st Embodiment. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the openings 13 and 14 at both ends of the tubular member 1 used in the present embodiment.
The present embodiment is characterized in that the liquid level at the openings 13 and 14 is nearly horizontal as shown in FIG. 4 by inclining the lower surface at both ends of the tubular member 1. Since the substantial gap dimension is h, which is smaller than the inner width dimension d of the tube, the surface tension for maintaining the liquid level may be a smaller value than in the first embodiment. Accordingly, a stable liquid surface can be formed even in the case of a treatment liquid having a relatively small surface tension. The cleaning liquid is effective when, for example, IPA (isopropyl alcohol), ethyl alcohol, acetone or the like is used. The configuration of the apparatus is different from that of the first embodiment only in that the belt 6 that conveys the object to be processed has an angle that matches the inclination, and the operation is completely the same.
[0023]
In the above description, the tubular member 1 is a tube having a rectangular cross section, but of course the shape is not limited thereto. If it is suitable for the shape of the object to be processed 2, the liquid level of the staying portion 33 is more stable when the tube has a circular cross section as shown in FIG. 5. In this case, the cross section cut at the position of the diameter in the vertical direction is exactly the same as in FIGS. 2 and 3 corresponding to the first and second embodiments.
[0024]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, the wet processing apparatus of the present invention has an extremely small space volume occupied by the apparatus and can be a very small processing apparatus as compared with the conventional example having the same processing capability. In addition, since the dead space is reduced, the amount of processing solution to be used can be greatly reduced. In addition, since only a small amount of the processing liquid is taken out of the apparatus and most of it can be recovered, the amount of waste liquid is also reduced.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an outline view showing a first embodiment of a wet processing apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a first embodiment of the wet processing apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a second embodiment of the wet processing apparatus of the present invention.
4 is an enlarged view of a part A in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a conventional wet processing apparatus.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tubular member 2 To-be-processed object 3 Processing layer 4 Ultrasonic vibrator 5 Processing liquid 6 Belt 7a, 7b Pulley (large)
8a, 8b Pulley (small)
9a, 9b Rectification mechanism 11 Processing liquid supply port 12 Processing liquid discharge port 13 Opening (carriage inlet)
14 Opening (exit)

Claims (7)

Tubular members each having both ends serving as workpiece inlets and outlets and provided with at least one opening each serving as a supply portion and a discharge portion for the processing liquid;
In the tubular member, a retention portion of a treatment liquid for wet treatment formed to have a liquid level in contact with the atmosphere at the carry-in port and the carry-out port, and
Wherein a transport mechanism for transporting the tubular member into the outlet port of the object to be treated from said inlet port,
Pressure adjusting means for adjusting the pressure of the treatment liquid in the staying part so as not to break the liquid surface;
The inner surface of the both ends of the tubular member is inclined toward both ends so that the liquid to be treated is kept inside,
The transport direction of the object to be processed in the tubular member is opposite to the direction in which the processing liquid flows, and a large number of the objects to be processed are transported to the inside of the staying portion to the large number of objects to be processed. Wet processing equipment that performs wet processing continuously.   The wet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transport mechanism has a belt that passes through the tubular member and transports the object to be cleaned.   The conveyance mechanism sequentially introduces the workpieces from the carry-in port, and pushes the workpieces introduced earlier by the workpiece to be fed later, thereby removing the workpieces from the carry-in port to the carry-out port. The wet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wet processing apparatus conveys the inside of the tubular member to the bottom.   The wet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the component member is a tubular member having a cross-sectional circle placed substantially horizontally.   The wet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an ultrasonic vibration device is attached to a position corresponding to the staying portion outside the component member.   The wet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object to be processed is transported from the carry-in port into the staying part in the wet process apparatus, and after the wet process, the object to be treated is taken out from the carry-out port. A wet processing method for microparts characterized.   A wet processing system comprising a drying unit having an air knife immediately after the carry-out port of the wet processing apparatus according to claim 1.

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