JPH11201641A - Automatic dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To hold therein an ultra-low humidity at low cost by providing a timer control circuit having a plurality of controlling functions and providing a time difference between a recyclably energizing heating time to a heater and an opening/closing time of a shutter, thereby preventing a backflow of a moisture absorption residual water content of a desiccant thereinto. SOLUTION: The automatic dryer adapted to a long-term storage of an electronic component such as a semiconductor or the like, food or the like comprises a dry unit 4 having a desiccant 8 and a heating material 7 for heating the desiccant 8 to recycle it. The unit 4 has shutters 10, 11 for opening/closing an indoor vent port 6A and an outdoor vent port 6B. The shutter. At the time of opening the port 6A and closing the port 6B under the control of a timer control circuit 30, high humidity air therein is dehumidified by the desiccant. At the time of closing the port 6A and opening the port 6B, the air of the state containing the moisture discharged from the desiccant is exhausted outdoor to hold therein an ultra-low humidity.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic drying apparatus which automatically dehumidifies the inside of a closed storage and is optimal for long-term storage of electronic parts such as semiconductors, precision equipment, foodstuffs and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG.
(A) and (b) are disclosed. This automatic drying apparatus 1 'is of a closed cabinet type, and the inside 2 of the cabinet is separated from the outside 3 by a side wall 1a. A dry unit (automatic dryer) 4 is attached to the side wall 1a side of the inside 2 of the refrigerator, and a partition 5 for partitioning a drying chamber 5A and a ventilation control chamber 5B in a housing 5 of the dry unit 4 is provided.
6 is attached.

As shown in FIG. 7A, inside a drying chamber 5A, a heater (heating element) 7 and a special drying agent (zeolum) 8 surrounding the heater 7 are provided. A set of desiccant containers 9 are vertically arranged side by side, and
A pair of seesaw-shaped shutters 10 and 11 that alternately open and close the in-compartment ventilation port 6A and the outside-compartment ventilation port 6B that have been opened.
Are swingably supported on the support shafts 13A and 13B.

[0004] Further, as shown in FIG.
3A and 13B, T-shaped tilting rods 14A and 14B are fixedly provided so as to integrally cooperate with a pair of shutters 10 and 11, respectively.
In (b), a spring 15A for urging in the clockwise direction and a spring 15B for urging the other tilting rod 14B in the counterclockwise direction are respectively stretched in the housing 5, while the wire 1
The tilting rods 14A and 14B are linked to each other by a shape memory alloy coil (shutter driving means) 18 through the elements 6 and 17, and the shape memory alloy coil 18 is attached to a heating plate 20 supporting a heating body 19. In order to penetrate into the continuously provided cylindrical body 21 to heat the inside of the cylindrical body 21 by the heat generated by the heating body 19 and to heat by the convective heat from the desiccant 8 to induce a transformation phenomenon, which is effective. , The one tilting rod 14A is operated counterclockwise against the springs 15A and 15B, and the other tilting rod 14B is operated clockwise in conjunction with each other.
The heater 7 and the heating body 19 are each connected to a power supply 23 via a timer switch 22 so as to be able to conduct.

[0005] Further, regarding the timer switch 22,
As shown in FIG. 8, the timer switch 22 is opened for 30 minutes after the elapse of 5 hours and 30 minutes with 6 hours as one cycle, and the heater 7 and the heating plate 19 are energized. It is configured to heat the alloy coil 18.

Incidentally, in FIGS. 7A and 7B, reference numerals 1A and 1
B indicates an exhaust port and an intake port opened in the side wall 1a.
Each of 5C and 5D has a ventilation control chamber 5B in a closed chamber 2
, The tilting rods 14A, 14A.
Springs 24A, 24B are interposed between the legs 14C, 14D of B and the housing 5 to improve the responsiveness of the operation of the tilting rods 14A, 14B, and to prevent air leakage from the low humidity interior 2 of the refrigerator. Has been reduced.

Next, the operation of the automatic drying apparatus 1 'having the above configuration will be described. First, when the timer switch 22 is opened and the heater 7 and the heating element 19 are inactive and do not generate heat, the shape memory alloy coil 18 is in an extended state at normal temperature and is urged by the springs 15A and 15B. One tilting rod 14A is rotated clockwise in FIG. 7 (b), and the other tilting rod 14B is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 7B, and is interlocked with the tilting rods 14A, 14B by the respective support shafts 13A, 13B. The pair of shutters 10 and 11 are rotated in the same direction, and both are positioned as indicated by the dotted lines in FIG.

As a result, the inside air vent 6A is opened, and the outside air vent 6B is closed. As a result, the drying chamber 5A is communicated with the inside of the refrigerator 2 through the ventilation hole 6A for the refrigerator and the ventilation holes 5C and 5D in the refrigerator, and the humid air in the refrigerator 2 is supplied with the desiccant 8 in the desiccant container 9. After being dehumidified to reduce the weight, the air is returned to the interior 2 from the interior ventilation port 5C of the interior 2 by natural convection as shown by an arrow B in FIG. The unprocessed air in the refrigerator 2 is supplied into the drying chamber 5A as shown by an arrow A in FIG. 7A so as to make up for it, and the dehumidification process in the refrigerator 2 is sequentially continued. The processing is performed for 30 minutes, and the inside of the refrigerator 2 is processed to a sufficiently dry state. Thereby, the storage items such as semiconductors stored in the storage 2 are stored in a low humidity state.

When the timer switch 22 is closed and the heater 7 and the heating element 19 are energized after the above-mentioned moisture-absorbing drying process for 5 hours and 30 minutes, the desiccant 8 is heated by the heater 7 in the drying chamber 5A. On the other hand, the shape memory alloy coil 18 disposed in the cylindrical body 21 is rapidly heated in the cylindrical body 21 through the heating plate 20 by the heat generated by the heating body 19, and the adjacent drying processing is performed. The composite material is also heated by the heat of the desiccant 8 in the chamber 5A.
As a result, the shape memory alloy coil 18 follows the regenerating process of the desiccant 8, and contracts in the cylindrical body 21 at the same timing.

As a result, the tilting rods 14A and 14B are opposed to the springs 15A and 15B, and are urged by the springs 24A and 24B to rotate counterclockwise or clockwise with the support shafts 13A and 13B as fulcrums. Rotated, each of these spindles 1
A pair of shutters 10, 11 connected to 3A, 13B
Are rotated in the same direction, are moved to the positions indicated by the solid lines in FIG. 7A, and the outside vent 6B is opened, while the inside vent 6A is closed.

As a result, the drying chamber 5A is communicated with the outside 3 through the vent hole 6B and the exhaust port 1A and the intake port 1B for the outside of the refrigerator, and sufficiently contains the moisture that is heated by the heater 7 and discharged from the desiccant 8. As shown by the arrow C in FIG. 7A, the high-temperature air in the state is exhausted from the exhaust port 1A to the outside of the refrigerator 3 at a stroke, and the air amount is replaced to compensate for the amount of air. As indicated by the middle arrow D, fresh air outside the refrigerator 3 is automatically and continuously supplied in a natural convection manner from the intake port 1B and the ventilation hole 6B for the exterior, and the moisture dehumidified from the desiccant 8 is subsequently removed. The desiccant 8 is discharged to the outside 3 and is sufficiently regenerated for 30 minutes. After 6 hours, the moisture absorption and the moisture discharge are repeated in the same cycle as described above.

[0012]

However, in the conventional automatic drying apparatus 1 ', as shown in FIG. 8, a cycle of 6 hours is performed, of which 30 minutes are used for heating the desiccant 8 and for discharging and discharging moisture. Since the energization of the shape memory alloy coil 18 for the shutter opening / closing operation for absorbing moisture was performed in a single cycle at the same time, as shown in FIG.
At the end of heating (after 30 minutes), the temperature of the desiccant 8 is the highest, and it takes about 3 seconds until the temperature of the desiccant 8 cools.
For 0 minute, there is a possibility that excess moisture (moisture-absorbing residual moisture) may be discharged backward (backflow) from the opened internal air vent 6A to the internal storage 2. In this case, as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 5, the humidity in the refrigerator 2 temporarily rises temporarily, and it is difficult to always maintain the refrigerator 2 at a low humidity.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to reliably prevent the moisture-absorbing residual moisture of the desiccant from flowing back into the refrigerator, and to reduce the cost in the refrigerator at a low cost. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic drying device that can always maintain an extremely low humidity.

[0014]

According to the present invention, a desiccant, a heating element for heating and regenerating the desiccant, a vent for the inside of the refrigerator, and a vent for the outside of the refrigerator are provided in the closed cabinet. And a shutter that opens and closes, and performs a dehumidifying process on the humid air in the refrigerator when the vent for the refrigerator is closed by closing the vent for the refrigerator with the shutter and the desiccant.
An automatic drying device configured to discharge air containing moisture discharged from the desiccant to the outside of the refrigerator when the inside ventilation hole is closed with the shutter and the outside ventilation hole is opened; A timer control circuit having a plurality of control functions in which a time difference is provided between a regeneration energizing heating time for the body and an opening / closing operation time of the shutter is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the automatic drying apparatus according to the first aspect, further comprising a humidity controller which detects humidity in the refrigerator and controls ON / OFF of the timer control circuit in the refrigerator. In addition, a plurality of dry units including at least the desiccant and the shutter are arranged, and the plurality of dry units are time-differentially operated by the timer control circuit via the humidity controller. Are provided so as to be freely controllable.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the automatic drying apparatus according to the second aspect, wherein the set humidity of the humidity controller is changed so that the operation of each of the plurality of dry units can be changed in each humidity range. It is characterized by having done.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are cross-sectional views of main parts of an automatic drying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a timer control circuit used in the automatic drying apparatus. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a timer cycle of an automatic drying apparatus, a heating time of a desiccant, and an opening / closing operation time of a shutter.

As shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b), an automatic drying apparatus 1 includes a desiccant 8 and a heater (heating element) for heating and regenerating the desiccant 8 in a closed chamber 2 thereof. 7)
A dry unit (automatic dryer) 4 having a pair of shutters 10 and 11 for opening and closing the inside vent 6A and the outside vent 6B is attached. Ventilation opening 6A
Is opened to close the outside vent 6B, the humid air inside the compartment 2 is dehumidified by the desiccant 8, and the inside vent 6A is closed by the pair of shutters 10 and 11 to vent the outside. The point that air containing moisture discharged from the desiccant 8 when the mouth 6B is opened is discharged to the outside 3 of the refrigerator is similar to the configuration of the automatic drying apparatus 1 'of the conventional example. The same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description is omitted.

Here, the regeneration heating time (heating time of the desiccant 8) to the heater 7 and the pair of shutters 10, 11
A timer control circuit 30 having a plurality of control functions in which a time difference T is provided in the opening / closing operation time is connected to a heater 7 for heating the heater 7 and the shape memory alloy coil (shutter driving means) 18, respectively. Further, an AC power supply (power supply) 40 is connected to the timer control circuit 30, and the timer control circuit 30
Is connected to a humidity controller 50 as a humidity detection sensor for controlling ON / OFF of the sensor.

As shown in FIG. 2, the timer control circuit 30
Are a pair of input terminals 31, 3 connected to the AC power supply 40.
2, a control circuit 33 connected to the pair of input terminals 31 and 32, an IC timer circuit 34 connected to the control circuit 33, and four output terminals 36 to 39 connected to the IC timer circuit 34. It is composed of Power is supplied to the heater 7 for heating the desiccant 8 from the two output terminals 36 and 37 of the timer control circuit 30 (for example, as shown in FIG. 3, when one cycle is 6 hours, 30 minutes). The energization is turned on and the energization is turned off for 5 hours and 30 minutes), and the remaining two output terminals 38 and 39 are energized to the heating element 19 of the shape memory alloy coil 18 that drives the pair of shutters 10 and 11 to open and close. (For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when one cycle is 6 hours, energization is turned on for 1 hour and energization is turned off for 5 hours). In this case, the time difference T between the heating time of the desiccant 8 and the opening / closing operation time of the pair of shutters 10 and 11 is 30 minutes.

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the temperature change of the desiccant 8 and the time by the timer control circuit 30 of the automatic drying apparatus 1 of the above embodiment. At the point A1 in FIG. 4, heating of the desiccant 8 is started. Thereby, the temperature of the desiccant 8 rises to about 100 to 110 ° C. in 30 minutes, and during this time, the operation of discharging the adsorbed moisture is performed. The heating is stopped at the point A2, the temperature rise of the desiccant 8 stops, and then the temperature of the desiccant 8 gradually decreases depending on the ambient temperature. A3 points in the process (70
° C) is the residual heat from point A2, and is the temperature range in which the adsorbed moisture of the desiccant 8 is still slowly discharged. After the point A3 (70 ° C. or lower), the adsorbed moisture of the desiccant 8 is almost completely discharged. Perform a switch. That is, A
At three points, the pair of shutters 10 and 11 open the internal air vent 6A of the drive unit 4 and close the external air vent 6B, and the humid air in the internal chamber 2 is dehumidified by the desiccant 8.

In the conventional automatic drying apparatus 1 ', the heating of the desiccant 8 at the point A1 is started and the pair of shutters 1
At 0,11, the inside vent 6A is closed and the outside vent 6B is closed.
Is opened to discharge the air containing the water discharged from the desiccant 8 to the outside 3 of the refrigerator, and to stop the heating of the desiccant 8 at A2 point and to open the ventilation hole 6A for the refrigerator by the pair of shutters 10 and 11. Since the opening operation and the switching to the closing operation of the outside vent 6B are simultaneously performed, there is a possibility that the moisture remaining in the desiccant 8 may be discharged into the interior 2 of the desiccant, thereby increasing the humidity of the interior 2 of the interior. However, in the present automatic drying apparatus 1, the heating of the desiccant 8 at the A1 point is started, and the pair of shutters 1
At 0,11, the inside vent 6A is closed and the outside vent 6B is closed.
Is opened to discharge the air containing moisture discharged from the desiccant 8 to the outside 3 of the refrigerator, stop the heating only at the point A2, and open the ventilation hole 6A for the interior by the pair of shutters 10 and 11 at the point A3. Since the operation and the switching to the closing operation of the outside vent 6B are performed, the residual moisture absorbed by the desiccant 8 is minimized to the inside of the refrigerator 2 and the humidity in the refrigerator 2 is kept low.

By providing a time difference T between the heating time of the desiccant 8 and the switching of the pair of shutters 10 and 11 shown in FIG. 4, the humidity of the inside 2 of the refrigerator by the conventional automatic drying apparatus 1 'and the automatic drying apparatus 1 can be reduced. FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the change and the time. FIG. 5 shows the same time axis as FIG. 4, and the point B1 increases the humidity in the refrigerator 2 due to minute leak (air leakage) from the refrigerator 2 and the housing 5 of the drive unit 4 due to the heating of the desiccant 8. (30 minutes between B1 and B2). As shown by the dotted line, the conventional automatic drying apparatus 1 'has a pair of shutters 10, 1 even after the point B2 (heating of the desiccant 8 is stopped).
Since the switching of 1 is performed at the same time, there is a possibility that moisture may flow back into the refrigerator 2, and the humidity in the refrigerator 2 increases for about one hour. According to the present automatic drying apparatus 1, the pair of shutters 10 and 11 are not switched even after the point B2 (the pair of shutters 10 and 11 closes the inside vent 6A and opens the outside vent 6B. Therefore, B3 point (that is,
(A3 point in FIG. 4 is a temperature at which moisture is not discharged), and the pair of shutters 10 and 11 are switched. Thus, after the point B3, the humidity of the inside of the refrigerator 2 rapidly decreases, and the temperature rise during the heating cycle of the desiccant 8 can be suppressed to a minimum. As a result, an automatic drying apparatus 1 capable of lowering the low humidity lower limit of this type of apparatus from 5% to 10% in the past to 1% ultra-low humidity and stably maintaining that state. It can be provided at low cost.

As described above, the automatic drying apparatus 1 includes the desiccant 8
A time difference of T time (for example, 30 minutes) is provided between the heating time of T and the switching time of opening and closing of the pair of shutters 10 and 11.
The set time of the time depends on the temperature of the desiccant 8 at the end of heating (11
0 to 150 ° C.), the temperature (about 60
７０70 ° C.), at which point the pair of shutters 10 and 11 are switched. The T time varies depending on the capacity and type of the desiccant 8 and the size of the desiccant container 9,
Usually, the drainage action hardly occurs at about 60 to 80 ° C,
By performing a time lag of T time (the shutter is switched at the position of point A shown in FIG. 3), the moisture is not substantially discharged (backflow) to the inside 2 of the refrigerator, and the humidifying effect due to the temperature rise during reproduction is eliminated. The effect of lowering the humidity of the interior 2 is promoted.

This effect further promotes the low-humidity action of the inside 2 of the refrigerator as compared with the conventional one, and the low-humidity action capacity (low-humidity performance) is 2
The humidity in the refrigerator 2 can be reduced to an ultra-low humidity of 1%, and a stable ultra-low humidity can always be maintained. For this reason, the ultra-low humidity automatic drying apparatus 1
In the case of using, even if opening and closing a door (not shown) for putting stored items such as semiconductors into the compartment 2 is performed, the humidity in the compartment 2 can be reduced only for a short time, especially when the door is not frequently opened and closed. ,
Normally, a cycle period (timer period) of 6 hours is set to one by one switch (not shown) connected to the timer control circuit 30.
By changing the setting to a 2-hour cycle or an 18-hour cycle, the ratio of the heating time of the desiccant 8 per cycle can be reduced to 1/2 or 1/3 while maintaining the ultra-low humidity of 1%. Energy saving can be achieved.
That is, the electricity bill can be reduced to 1/2 or 1/3.
Further, when the semiconductor package is stored as a storage product to be stored in the storage 2, moisture cracks due to moisture absorption of the semiconductor package can be prevented, and ultra-low humidity storage can be performed to improve the quality and the yield. Further, the maintenance cost of the automatic drying apparatus 1 can be reduced to 1/10 of the case of using an inert gas such as nitrogen gas.

As shown in FIG. 6, one cycle time is set to three hours, and the drying agent heating time and the shutter switching interval can be varied. Further, the number of output terminals of the timer control circuit 30 is increased to, for example, eight, and two dry units 4 are arranged in the refrigerator 2. The two dry units 4 and 4 are connected via the humidity controller 50 to the timer control circuit 30.
Accordingly, a time difference (for example, 3 hours) may be provided between the operation cycle times of the two dry units 4 and 4 so that each of them can be controlled freely. In this case, even if the one cycle time is 6 hours, the one cycle time can be made to function similarly to that shown in FIG. The humidity can be adjusted to a suitable level, and the versatility can be improved. Further, the set humidity of the humidity controller 50 may be changed so that the operation of the two dry units 4 and 4 can be varied in each humidity range. In this case, warehouse 2
The humidity in the storage 2 can be easily and freely adjusted to the optimum humidity suitable for the storage items stored in the storage.

Although the shape memory alloy coil is used as the shutter driving means for opening and closing the shutter according to the above-described embodiment, a motor, an electromagnetic valve or the like may be used as the shutter driving means. Further, although the timer control circuit is configured by an IC timer circuit or the like, it may be configured by an electric resistance, a cabanter, or the like.

[0029]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a time difference is provided between the heating time of the desiccant and the opening / closing operation time of the shutter for discharging and absorbing moisture.
It is possible to reliably prevent the desiccant from remaining moisture-absorbed residual water flowing back into the storage, and it is possible to always maintain the storage at ultra-low humidity at low cost.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the humidity in the refrigerator can be adjusted to an appropriate humidity suitable for the purpose of use, and the versatility can be improved.

According to the third aspect of the invention, in addition to the effect of the second aspect, it is possible to easily and freely adjust the humidity in the refrigerator to an optimum humidity suitable for the storage items stored in the refrigerator. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1A is a longitudinal sectional view of a desiccant container position in an automatic drying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a longitudinal sectional view of a heating means position of a shape memory alloy coil in the automatic drying apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a timer control circuit used in the automatic drying device.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a timer cycle of the automatic drying device, a drying agent heating time, and a shutter switching interval.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between the temperature of a desiccant and time in the automatic drying device.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between humidity and time in a refrigerator of the automatic drying device.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a timer cycle, a desiccant heating time, and a shutter switching interval in another mode in the automatic drying apparatus.

7A is a longitudinal sectional view of a desiccant container position in a conventional automatic drying apparatus, and FIG. 7B is a longitudinal sectional view of a heating means position of a shape memory alloy coil in the same apparatus.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a timer cycle, a desiccant heating time, and a shutter switching interval of the automatic drying apparatus of the conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Automatic drying apparatus 2 Inside of a cabinet 4 Drying unit 6A Inside of a cabinet 6B Outside of a cabinet 7B Outside of a cabinet 7 Heater (heating element) 8 Desiccant 10, 11 Shutter 30 Timer control circuit 50 Humidity controller

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An air conditioner comprising a desiccant, a heating element for heating and regenerating the desiccant, and a shutter for opening and closing a vent for the inside of the refrigerator and a vent for the outside of the refrigerator. When the inside vent is opened and the outside vent is closed, the humid air inside the compartment is dehumidified with the desiccant and the inside vent is closed with the shutter to close the outside vent. In an automatic drying device configured to discharge air containing water discharged from the desiccant when the vent is opened to the outside of the refrigerator, the regeneration heating heating time to the heating element and the shutter opening / closing operation time An automatic drying device comprising a timer control circuit having a plurality of control functions with a time difference. 2. The automatic drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a humidity controller that senses humidity in the refrigerator and controls ON / OFF of the timer control circuit is disposed in the refrigerator. A plurality of dry units including at least a desiccant and the shutter are arranged, and the plurality of dry units are controlled by providing a time difference between the operation cycle times of the respective dry units by the timer control circuit via the humidity controller. An automatic dryer characterized by being free to use. 3. The automatic drying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the set humidity of the humidity controller is changed, and the operation of each of the plurality of dry units is made variable in each humidity range. Automatic drying equipment.