JPH02293552A - Air shower room - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To remove dust adhered to clothing and to reduce its introduction to a clean room by providing a means for sucking the air near a human being entering the room, alternately operation an injecting means and the sucking means, and providing a filter means for blanching the inner and outer atmospheric pressures at a partition wall. CONSTITUTION:An air shower chamber 2 injects strong air flows from jet ports B1-B10 provided at a partition wall 2B, a ceiling plate 2C and a floor to a person entering from a swinging door 2A for a predetermined period of time to remote dusts adhered to his surface. The chamber is so divided to the parts of the wall 2B as to suck the air near a human being entering the chamber to provide a plurality of suction ports PF1-PF4. Pipes (ducts SD1, SD2, and feed tubes BP1, BP2), transfer means (transfer valve V and three-way solenoid valve MV), and controller CP for controlling the transfer means are so provided as to partly alternately intermittently operate a plurality of jet ports B1-B10 and the ports PF1-PF4. The door 2A is provided with a filter means 5 for balancing the atmospheric air and the inner air.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention is applied to an apparatus for removing dust attached to a worker entering a cleaned environment.

The present invention is particularly suitable for use in clean rooms used in semiconductor and precision machinery manufacturing processes.

〔overview〕

The present invention provides an air shower room equipped with means for ejecting strong wind to remove dust adhering to people entering a clean room, which is provided with means for sucking in air from the vicinity of the person, and includes a means for inhaling air and a means for ejecting air from the vicinity of the person. By operating these functions alternately, dust adhering to clothing is easily removed, and the dust is inhaled and expelled without scattering, thereby reducing the possibility of it being re-adhered to clothing and carried into the clean room.

[Conventional technology]

Persons entering the clean room must use an air shower to remove dust from their clothes and be clean before entering the room.

The air shower uses strong winds (approximately 3
The apparatus is equipped with an injection means for injecting a jet of air (approximately Qm/sec) and a suction means for discharging the separated dust, but conventionally these means started operating at the same time and stopped operating at the same time.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, dust attached to clothes cannot be removed in a short time. This is due to strong winds in the area facing the injection hand.
It is pressed against the clothing and is difficult to remove. In addition, the person entering the room must move their body to apply strong wind to concealed areas such as the base of the four legs.

Therefore, when the injection means and the suction means are operated at the same time, the ejection means finishes removing the dust, and the suction means stops before the dust is inhaled, causing the removed dust to remain in the air shower room. Put it away.

Furthermore, since the speed of the air in the suction means is significantly lower than that of strong winds, the separated dust cannot be efficiently sucked in. When the air shower operation is finished, there is a risk that this remaining dust will re-adhere to the occupants of the clean room.

An object of the present invention is to solve this drawback and provide an air shower that efficiently removes abrasions.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention provides an air shower room that is installed at the entrance of a clean room and is equipped with means for blowing strong air at people entering the clean room, and a partition wall that isolates the space in which the air shower is placed from the outside. It is characterized by being provided with a means for inhaling air near the person entering the room, a means for alternately operating the injecting means and the inhaling means, and a filter means provided in the partition wall to circulate the air pressure inside and outside. .

The injection port of the injection means and the suction port of the suction means can be provided separately.

The structure is such that the same nozzle serves as the injection port of the injection means and the suction port of the suction means, and a means for periodically switching the air pressure connected to the nozzle body can be provided.

The means for alternating activation may include a timer circuit for controlling its activation time.

[Effect]

Since the spraying hand and the suction means operate alternately, forces in different directions are repeatedly applied to the dust adhering to clothes, etc., making it easier to remove the dust. The air pressure inside the air shower room does not fluctuate unnecessarily.

When controlling the operating time of each of the injection means and the suction means to a predetermined value, most of the dust released within one operation time of the injection means can be discharged within one operation time of the suction means. Moreover, since the suction function inhales the air near the person, the separated dust is efficiently discharged.

With a structure in which the same nozzle serves as both the injection port and the suction port,
If the air pressure connected to the nozzle is switched periodically, the suction means can suck in dusty air floating near the human body.

〔Example〕

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cutaway perspective view showing a first embodiment of the present invention including a clean room, and FIG. 2 is a control system diagram thereof.

In FIG. 1, a clean room 1 has a high-performance filter IA installed on its ceiling, a pre-filter IB,
The air sucked from inside the room via a sirocco fan IC is recycled and purified, and the air shower is provided in an air shower room 2 connected to the entrance of the clean room 1. Air shower room 2 has opening/closing door 2
Strong wind is sprayed onto the person entering the room for a predetermined period of time from the injection ports 81 to B10 provided on the partition wall 2B, ceiling plate 2C, and floor surface to remove dust attached to the surface. . The direction of this jet airflow is indicated by a two-blade arrow in the figure.

Here, the features of the present invention are that the air shower room is divided into each part of the partition wall 2B and provided with a plurality of inlets PFI to PF4 so as to inhale air near the person entering the room, and that each part has a plurality of injection ports. 81~BIO, inlet PFI~P
The piping shown in Fig. 2 (ducts SDI, SD2 and air pipes BPI, B
P2) and switching means (switching valve V and three-way solenoid valve MV
) and a control section CP for controlling this switching means, and a filter means 5 for circulating outside air and atmospheric pressure through the opening and closing door 2A. Further, in this embodiment, the injection port and the suction port are provided separately. For this reason, it is possible to install a pre-filter at the inlet opening.
As in the above-mentioned clean room, showering air can be recycled and purified using one blower BLI and a high-performance filter FF (see Figure 2).

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, in this embodiment, the plurality of injection ports and suction ports are odd-numbered ones (B1, B3 to B9).
and PFI, PF3) are provided on the left side facing the person entering the room, and even-numbered ones (B2, 84 to BIO and PF2
, PF4) are also provided on the right side, and air pipes BP1 and BP2 are connected to the right side and ducts SD1 and SD.
2, the injection operation and suction operation are alternately switched by the control unit CP via the three-way solenoid valve MV and the switching valve V.

In FIG. 2, the optical sensor PS detects the person entering the room 3,
The drive timer T1 of the control unit CP is started, the relay Ryl is closed, and the AC 200V current drives the blower BL. Based on the instruction from the drive timer T1, the switching timer T2 starts timing the first stage, closes the relay Ry2, energizes the solenoid SL of the switching valve V, connects the duct SD2 to the blower BL, and connects the duct SD2 to the blower BL. Close SDI.

The three-way solenoid valve MV is also energized, and the compressed air from the blower BL is sent to the air pipe BPI. Therefore, in the partition wall 2B of the air shower room, odd-numbered injection ports (Bl
~ B9) The jetted airflow (indicated by the two-bladed arrow) hits the occupant 3 and removes the dust attached to its surface, which is then directed to the even-numbered intake ports provided near the occupant. It is drawn into the intake airflow (indicated by the three-blade arrow) toward (PF2, PF4) and discharged.

When switching timer T2 clocks the first stage, relay R is activated.
y2 is released, the switching valve V and the three-way solenoid valve MV are respectively restored to their respective positions, and the direction of connection of the duct and the air pipe is respectively switched, so the pressurized air from the blower BLI flows from the left side to the right side inside the partition wall. It will be converted as follows. This switching operation is repeated for the time period set by the drive timer T1. Further, the switching timer T2 can be set in advance so as to change the time measured for each stage as appropriate.

During this time, the person entering the room can remove the dust attached to each part as completely as possible by moving his/her limbs corresponding to each stage. On the other hand, the dust released at each stage is not significantly disturbed by the high-velocity jet airflow, and is inhaled into the opposite suction port, so it is not inhaled, but scatters within the partition wall and re-attaches to the occupants. Therefore, the amount of dust brought into the clean room is extremely small.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the structure of a nozzle that serves as both an injection port and a suction port in the second embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, a spherical injection port 4C rotatably supported by a support body 4B is provided approximately at the center of the outer cylinder 4A of the nozzle.

The space between the injection port 4C, the outer periphery of the support 4B, and the outer cylinder 4A is the suction port 4D.
The air supply pipe BPI or BP2, which is connected to the support body 4B, is drawn out from the middle of the duct SDl or SD2.

The outer diameter of the spherical injection port 4C is about several cm, and the outer diameter of the outer cylinder 4A on the suction port 4D side is about 20 cm. Therefore, a large number of nozzles can be installed close to the surface of a predetermined partition wall 2B. With this configuration, air very close to the person entering the room can be inhaled.

FIG. 4 is a control system diagram of the second embodiment in which a large number of nozzles N1 to NIO are installed, and FIG. 5 is a detailed diagram of the control section CP shown in FIG. 4. In FIG. 4, the odd numbered nozzles (Nl, N3, N5, N7, N9) are provided on the left side of the figure, and the even numbered nozzles (N2, N4, N6,
N8, N10》 are provided on the right side. The air pipe BPI and the duct SDl are connected to the odd numbered nozzles, and the air pipe BP2 and the duct SD1 are connected to the even numbered nozzles.
2 are connected to each other. Air pipe B. P1 and BP2 are connected to blower B, which has a small air volume and high static pressure, through a three-way solenoid valve MV.
The ducts SDI and SD2 are connected to a blower BL3 with a large air volume and low static pressure via a switching valve V whose direction of airflow is switched by a solenoid SL.

As shown in Fig. 5, the blower BL2 sucks outside air through the prefilter PI and the high-performance air filter FF, and sends the air to the air shower room from the nozzle.The blower BL3 draws the air from the air shower room together with dust from the nozzle. Send it out to the outside air.

Here, as a second feature of the present invention, the means for alternately operating the injecting means and the intake means includes a clock circuit 6B as a timer means for controlling the respective operating times.
It is equipped with a processor 6A that controls a repelling relay 6C, an injection relay 6D, an intake relay 6E, and a switching relay 6F based on the output of each according to a preset program.

As a result, each nozzle operates to inject or inhale alternately, as shown in the time chart of FIG. In this case, if the corresponding injection time is Ti1 and the suction time is ti, then by setting Ti<ti, the amount of dust remaining in the air shower chamber can be extremely reduced.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, by carrying out the present invention, when performing an air shower, the dust attached to the clothes of the person entering the room can be easily removed, and the removed dust can be easily discharged. The present invention has the effect of improving the inspection pass rate of products such as semiconductors and precision instruments, and contributing to reducing product costs.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cutaway perspective view of a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a control system diagram of the same embodiment. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a nozzle according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a control system diagram of the same embodiment. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the control section of the same embodiment. FIG. 6 is an operation time chart of the same embodiment. 1...Clean room, IA, FF...High performance filter, IBPF...Prefilter, IC...Sirocco fan, 2...Air shower room, 2A...Opening/closing door, 2B...Partition wall , 2C... Ceiling board, 3... Personnel, 4A... Outer cylinder, 4B... Support body, 4CSBl-B
IO...Injection port, 4D, PEI~PE4...Intake port, 5...Filter means, 6A...Processor, 6B
...Drive relay, 6c...Clock, 6D...T
i relay, 6E...ti relay 6F...switching relay, BLI~BL3...blower, BPI, BP2
...Air pipe, CP...Control unit, FF...High performance filter, MV...Three-way solenoid valve, N1~NIO...Nozzle, PF...Prefilter, PS...Photo sensor ,
RyL Ry2-! J Ray, SDI, SD2...Duct, SL...Solenoid, T1, T2...Drive timer and switching timer, Ti...Injection time, Ti...
...Inhalation time, ■...Switching valve.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An air shower provided at the entrance of a clean room and equipped with means for spraying strong wind onto people entering the clean room, and a partition wall that isolates the space in which the air shower is installed from the outside. The air shower room is equipped with a means for inhaling air near the person entering the clean room, a means for alternately operating the injecting means and the inhaling means, and the partition wall is provided with air pressure inside and outside. An air shower room characterized by being provided with a filter means for circulating air. 2. The air shower room according to claim 1, wherein the injection port of the injection means and the suction port of the suction means are provided separately. 3. Claim 1, wherein the injection port of the injection means and the suction port of the suction means are constructed so that the same nozzle is used, and a means for periodically switching the air pressure connected to the nozzle is provided. air shower room. 4. The air shower room according to claim 3, wherein said means for alternately operating includes timer means for controlling respective operating times.