JPH083350B2 - Gate valve exchange device for vacuum chamber - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of use] The present invention relates to a vacuum chamber for exchanging a sluice valve between a vacuum chamber that should be constantly evacuated and a vacuum / atmosphere chamber that repeats vacuum and atmosphere. Gate valve exchanging device.

[Prior Art] When manufacturing or processing a printed circuit board, a vacuum atmosphere is required in order to prevent various influences from the atmosphere. As one of the vacuum chamber technologies that meet such requirements, conventionally, a sluice valve is arranged in the communication part between the vacuum chamber that should always be vacuum and the vacuum / atmosphere chamber that repeats the vacuum and the atmosphere. There is a technique for maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum chamber by opening the partition valve only when the atmospheric chamber is evacuated.

However, when the sluice valve is provided between the two chambers as described above, it is very difficult to replace the sluice valve. In particular, in a device in which the partition valve is a glass window and the inside needs to be visually inspected through the glass window / dividing valve, the glass window / dividing valve must be replaced every time the glass window is soiled to a certain extent or more. However, it is extremely inconvenient.

Therefore, when using a sluice valve that needs to be replaced frequently, such as this glass window sluice valve, prepare a sluice valve for replacement in the vacuum / atmosphere chamber. A replacement device that mechanically replaces the glass has been proposed, but in this case, the structure of the device tends to be complicated, and the movement space for moving the glass and sluice valve becomes large, so that the vacuum / atmosphere chamber is large. It has the drawback of becoming

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and its purpose is to partition between a vacuum chamber and a vacuum / atmosphere chamber. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sluice valve exchanging device for a vacuum chamber, in which the sluice valve can be easily exchanged and has a small size and a simple structure.

[Means for Solving the Problem] The vacuum chamber sluice valve exchanging device according to the present invention has two sluice valves arranged in the atmosphere / vacuum chamber, and
It is individually rotatable and can be raised and lowered.

That is, according to the present invention, a vacuum chamber that needs to be constantly evacuated and that has an opening portion above; An atmosphere / vacuum chamber that has a first space and a second space that communicates with the side of the first space and that repeats vacuum and atmosphere; An opening / closing part that can be opened and closed with respect to the atmosphere; and can be stored above and below the second space of the atmosphere / vacuum chamber, each of which is arranged horizontally, and usually one of them closes the opening of the vacuum chamber. First and second sluice valves that are held in the closed position and the other one is held in the storage position; rotatably and vertically movably fixed to the upper and lower walls of the atmosphere / vacuum chamber, and each sluice valve is Upper and lower arms for supporting; rotating each arm to move the sluice valve supported by the arm to the second Upper and lower rotating means for horizontally moving in the range from the storage position in the space to the position above the opening of the vacuum chamber in the first space; and, raising and lowering each arm to vacuum the sluice valve supported by the arm. Upper and lower elevating means for elevating and lowering in a range from a position above the opening of the chamber to a closing position for closing the opening; rotation centers of the upper and lower arms are arranged at different positions in the horizontal direction Is characterized by.

[Operation] In the vacuum chamber sluice valve exchanging device of the present invention having the above-described configuration, the sluice valve can be exchanged as follows.

First, with the atmosphere / vacuum chamber in a vacuum state, the lower elevating means is operated to raise the lower arm to close the first sluice valve in the closed position to close the opening. In the space of the lower side to the upper position at the same height as the lower side storage position, and thereafter, the lower rotating means is operated to rotate the lower arm to move the first sluice valve to the first Horizontally move to the lower storage position in space 2.

Then, the upper rotation means is operated to rotate the upper arm, and the second sluice valve at the upper storage position in the second space is moved to the opening portion of the vacuum chamber in the first space. After moving horizontally to the upper position, the upper elevating means is operated to lower the upper arm, and the second sluice valve is lowered to the closed position to close the opening, and the atmosphere / vacuum chamber is closed. And the vacuum chamber.

In this state, if the atmosphere / vacuum chamber is returned to the atmosphere and the opening / closing part is opened, the first sluice valve returned to the storage position is taken out and replaced with a new sluice valve while the vacuum chamber is kept in vacuum. be able to.

As described above, in the present invention, the sluice valve can be easily exchanged while the vacuum in the vacuum chamber is maintained by simply operating the up / down rotating means and the elevating / lowering means in sequence. A great effect can be obtained in an apparatus using a glass window and sluice valve that needs to be replaced.

Also, in the atmosphere / vacuum chamber, the space required to store and move the sluice valve is such that, in the horizontal direction, there is only a space for horizontally moving the sluice valve, that is, a space where two sluice valves are arranged side by side. In terms of height, the space required for arranging the two sluice valves above and below is required, so that the atmosphere / vacuum chamber can be made extremely compact and the entire apparatus can be miniaturized.

Further, the exclusive structure for exchanging the sluice valve is only the upper and lower arms, the respective rotating means and the elevating means, which is extremely simple.

[Example] Hereinafter, a partition valve exchange device for a vacuum chamber according to the present invention will be described.
An embodiment applied to a device for exchanging a glass window / dividing valve will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
Here, FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the positional relationship between the upper and lower arms and the glass window / dividing valve, and FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the device as seen from the front.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, above the opening of the vacuum chamber 1 having an opening above, there is provided a first space 2a communicating with the vacuum chamber through this opening, and the first space 2a. There is provided an atmosphere / vacuum chamber 2 including a second space 2b which is provided in communication with the side of the space 2a. A ring-shaped seal member 3 is attached around the opening of the vacuum chamber 1 in the first space 2a of the atmosphere / vacuum chamber 2. An opening to the outside is provided on the upper wall surface of the atmosphere / vacuum chamber 2 on the side of the second space 2b, and is normally closed by a lid (opening / closing portion) 4.

Through holes are provided at different positions in the horizontal direction on the upper wall surface and the lower wall surface of the atmosphere / vacuum chamber 2, and bearings 5a and 5b are provided around the through holes, respectively. In this case, the bearing 5a on the upper wall surface is mounted inside the wall surface, and the bearing 5b on the lower wall surface is mounted outside the wall surface, and the handles 6a and 6b are inserted into the bearings 5a and 5b, respectively. It is rotatable and can be raised and lowered. The upper and lower handles 6a and 6b can be manually rotated or moved up and down by operating means (not shown). Upper and lower arms 8a and 8b supporting glass windows and sluice valves 7a and 7b are respectively fixed to the ends of the upper and lower handles 6a and 6b in the atmosphere / vacuum chamber 2.

That is, the glass window and sluice valves 7a, 7b supported by the upper and lower arms 8a, 8b are arranged in the atmosphere / vacuum chamber according to the turning or raising / lowering of the arms 8a, 8b accompanying the turning or raising / lowering of the handles 6a, 6b. Second upper and lower storage positions of the second space 2b or the vacuum chamber 1
It is designed to be held in a closed position where it closes the opening. In this case, the positions of the handles 6a and 6b are different from each other as described above, but the storage positions of the upper and lower glass window / dividing valves 7a and 7b that move around the handles 6a and 6b are upward and downward. They are arranged so that they overlap. In FIGS. 1 and 2, the glass window / dividing valve 7b supported by the lower arm 8b is held in the closed position and pressure-bonded to the seal member 3 to hermetically close the opening of the vacuum chamber 1. on the other hand,
The glass window and sluice valve 7a supported by the upper arm 8a
It shows a state of being held in the storage position on the upper side of the second space 2b. Also, the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 2 shows the state in which the glass window / dividing valve 7b supported by the lower arm 8b is held in the storage position, and the position in the horizontal direction is shown in FIG. This corresponds to the position of the glass window / dividing valve 7a shown.

Further, the glass windows and sluice valves 7a, 7b are connected to the arms 8a, 8b.
The detachable attachment / detachment member 9 is fixed to form a unit unit, and the glass window / dividing valves 7a and 7b are exchanged by this unit unit.

In the figure, 10 is a glass window and sluice valve in the storage position.
It is a fixed support tool for supporting one ends of the arms 7a, 7b on the opposite side of the arms 8a, 8b.

In the present embodiment having the above-mentioned configuration, from the state shown in FIG. 2, the first glass window / dividing valve 7b supported by the lower arm 8b is connected to the second glass by the upper arm 8a. When replacing the window / dividing valve 7a, the following operation is performed.

First, with the atmosphere / vacuum chamber 2 in a vacuum state, the lower handle 6b and the lower arm 8b fixed to the handle 6b are lifted by operating means (not shown), and the lower arm 8b is supported by the first arm 6b. 1 glass window and sluice valve 7b, 2nd space 2b
In the upper storage position at the same height as the lower storage position. After this, lower handle 6b and lower arm
8b is rotated to horizontally move the first glass window / dividing valve 7b to the lower storage position in the second space 2b, and one end thereof is supported by the fixed support tool 10.

Then, the upper handle 6a and the upper arm 8a are rotated to move the second glass window / dividing valve 7a located at the upper storage position in the second space 2b to the vacuum chamber 1 in the first space 2a. Is horizontally moved to a position above the opening portion of the above, then the upper handle 6a and the upper arm 8a are lowered, the second glass window / dividing valve 7a is lowered to the closed position, and the seal member 3 is crimped. . As a result, the vacuum chamber 1 is hermetically closed.

In this state, if the atmosphere / vacuum chamber 2 is returned to the atmosphere and the lid 4 is opened, the first glass window / dividing valve 7b returned to the storage position is taken out to the outside while the vacuum chamber 1 is kept in vacuum. It can be replaced with another glass window and sluice valve. In particular,
In this embodiment, since the detachable member 9 is integrally fixed to the glass window / dividing valves 7a and 7b as a unit unit,
The replacement work can be performed more easily.

As described above, in this embodiment, the upper and lower handles
By simply rotating and lifting the 6a and 6b manually, it is possible to easily replace the glass window and sluice valve, which often requires an effect, while maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum chamber 1.

Further, in the atmosphere / vacuum chamber 2, the space required for storing and moving the glass window / dividing valve is about the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. It only requires space, and the height only needs to be large enough to allow two glass windows and sluice valves to be installed above and below. The vacuum chamber 2 can be made extremely compact and the entire apparatus can be downsized.

Furthermore, the exclusive structure for replacing the glass window and sluice valve is the upper and lower arms 8a, 8b and the respective handles 6a, 6b.
It is very simple. In particular, in this embodiment, since the handles 6a and 6b are configured to perform both the turning operation and the raising / lowering operation, the configuration is greatly simplified.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be similarly applied to a device for exchanging various gate valves other than the gate valve that also serves as a glass window. Further, the configurations of the rotating means and the elevating means can be changed as appropriate, and the configurations in which separate means are respectively provided are also possible. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the handle is manually operated, but a configuration in which various driving means such as a motor and a hydraulic cylinder are provided and mechanically operated is also possible.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, in the present invention, two sluice valves are arranged in the atmosphere / vacuum chamber, and the sluice valves are individually supported and the arms are individually rotated. It is possible to easily replace the sluice valve while securely holding the vacuum in the vacuum chamber by means of the provision of a means for operating and a means for moving up and down individually, and the movement space is small, which is small and simple. It is possible to provide a sluice valve exchanging device for a vacuum chamber having excellent performance, and its effect is particularly great as a device for exchanging a sluice valve that also functions as a glass window.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 and 2 are views showing an embodiment of a vacuum chamber sluice valve exchanging device according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the positional relationship between upper and lower arms and a sluice valve, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the device seen from the front. 1 ... vacuum chamber, 2 ... atmosphere / vacuum chamber, 2a ... first space, 2b ... second space, 3 ... seal member, 4 ... lid,
5a, 5b …… Bearing, 6a, 6b …… Hand, 7a, 7b …… Glass window and gate valve, 8a, 8b …… Arm, 9 …… Detachable member, 10 …… Fixed support.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vacuum chamber which is required to be constantly evacuated and has an opening above, and a first chamber which is provided above the opening of the vacuum chamber and communicates with the vacuum chamber through the opening of the vacuum chamber. And the second space provided in communication with the side of the first space, the atmosphere / vacuum chamber that repeats vacuum and the atmosphere, and the atmosphere / vacuum chamber that is provided outside An opening / closing part that can be opened / closed, and an opening / closing part that can be stored above and below the second space of the atmosphere / vacuum chamber are arranged horizontally, and usually one of them closes the opening of the vacuum chamber. The first and second sluice valves that are held in position and the remaining one is held in the storage position, and rotatably and vertically fixed to the upper and lower wall surfaces of the atmosphere / vacuum chamber to support each sluice valve. By rotating the upper and lower arms and each arm, the sluice valve supported by the arms is moved to the second space. In the range from the storage position in the first space to a position above the opening of the vacuum chamber in the first space, up and down rotating means for horizontally moving, and each arm is moved up and down so that the sluice valve supported by the arm is installed in the vacuum chamber. An upper and lower elevating means for elevating and lowering in a range from a position above the opening to a closed position for closing the opening, wherein the pivot centers of the upper and lower arms are arranged at different positions in the horizontal direction. Gate valve exchange device for vacuum chambers.