KR100986253B1 - Temperature control method for chiller apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a temperature control method of a chiller device capable of reducing power consumption of a temperature compensating heater. The above method is applied to a chiller device in which heat exchange is performed with a brine provided to a semiconductor processing equipment in an evaporator installed in a refrigerant path, and setting a minimum output amount of a brine heater; Calculating a cooling control set value based on the heater minimum output amount; Performing cooling control of the brine by adjusting an opening degree of an expansion valve installed at the front end of the evaporator based on the calculated cooling control set value; And performing final control by performing heating compensation control of the cooling-controlled brine with the set heater minimum output amount.

Chiller, power consumption, brine heater, minimum output

Description

Temperature control method for chiller apparatus {Temperature control method for chiller apparatus}

The present invention relates to a temperature control method of a chiller device, and more particularly, to a technology capable of reducing power consumption by controlling an output of a temperature compensating heater.

The chiller device is a temperature control device for stable process control in a semiconductor device manufacturing process. In particular, the chiller device is mainly used in the etching and exposure processes of various processes, and keeps the temperature of the electrode plate and chamber where excessive heat is generated during the process to prevent wafer breakage and productivity decrease due to high temperature. .

In the refrigerating cycle of the chiller device performing this function, the refrigerant path and the brine path overlap each other in the evaporator, thereby performing heat exchange. Here, brine is a solution or liquid with a low freezing point, usually a galden or ethylene glycol mixture is used.

1 is a system diagram showing an example of a chiller apparatus for a conventional semiconductor processing equipment.

First, the circulation path of the refrigerant (for example, freon gas) formed by the refrigeration cycle is as follows.

After the high temperature and high pressure refrigerant discharged from the compressor 10 is condensed in the condenser 20 in which the coolant of about 20 ° C. is in thermal contact with each other and phase changes to a high pressure refrigerant liquid, the condensed refrigerant liquid is a high pressure tank receiver 30. ), And the refrigerant liquid exiting the receiver 30 is expanded by the electronic expansion valve (40, EEV) to change into a low-temperature low-pressure saturated refrigerant, the low-temperature low-pressure saturated refrigerant is heat exchanged with brine in the evaporator (50) By repeating the evaporation and the flow into the compressor 10 again.

In addition, the brine circulation path is as follows.

After brine exiting the semiconductor processing equipment is heat-exchanged with the refrigerant in the evaporator 50, the temperature compensation is heated by the brine heater 70 in the tank 60, the semiconductor process for the brine pump 70 Create a path to the installation.

According to such a conventional structure, since the capacity of the external load to be fluctuated cannot be grasped and an expected maximum load of a vague appropriate amount is expected to be cooled, a case of overcooling above a set load occurs. In order to compensate for this, the amount of power consumed during the heating operation of the brine heater increases in proportion to the degree of subcooling, thereby reducing the consumption efficiency. In other words, the temperature compensation heater control method according to an arbitrary cooling capacity has a problem of causing unnecessary power consumption.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a temperature control method of a chiller device that can reduce the power consumption by controlling the output of the temperature compensation heater.

The above object is applied to a chiller device in which heat exchange is performed with a brine provided to a semiconductor process facility in an evaporator installed in a refrigerant path, setting a minimum output amount of a brine heater; Calculating a cooling control set value based on the heater minimum output amount; Performing cooling control of the brine by adjusting an opening degree of an expansion valve installed at the front end of the evaporator based on the calculated cooling control set value; And performing final control by performing heating compensation control of the cooling-controlled brine with the set heater minimum output amount.

Preferably, when it is determined that the final control is sufficiently performed at the set heater minimum output amount, the set heater minimum output amount is set as the final heater minimum output amount.

In addition, the above object is applied to a chiller device in which heat exchange is performed with a brine provided to a semiconductor process facility in an evaporator installed in a refrigerant path, calculating a calorific value of a brine pump; Setting a minimum output amount of the brine heater; Calculating a cooling control set value based on the calculated pump heating value and the heater minimum output amount; Performing cooling control of the brine by adjusting an opening degree of an expansion valve installed at the front end of the evaporator based on the calculated cooling control set value; And performing final control by performing heating compensation control of the cooling-controlled brine with the set heater minimum output amount.

Preferably, the pump calorific value is calculated by the following equation.

Q _PUMP = G × C × (PV _RTD1 -PV _RTD4 )

Here, PV _RTD1 is the temperature measured value (℃) by the temperature sensor installed at the brine supply stage, PV _RTD4 is the temperature measured value (℃) by the temperature sensor installed at the front of the pump, and G is the brine circulation amount (kg / h), and C is the specific heat of brine (dl / kg 占 폚).

Further, preferably, the calculation of the cooling control set value is calculated by the following equation.

Q _T = Q _{H / T} + Q _PUMP = G × C × (PV _RTD1 -PV _RTD3 )

Here, Q _{H / T} represents the set minimum heater output amount, Q _PUMP is the heat generation amount by the pump motor, Q _T is the total load amount indicating the sum of the heater minimum output amount and the pump heating value, PV _RTD1 and PV _RTD3 are respectively final of a SV _RTD3 control set value SV of _RTD1 and cooling control settings.

According to the above method, power consumption can be reduced by optimally controlling the output of the temperature compensating heater.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a block diagram showing a brine path for applying the method of the present invention.

After brine exiting the semiconductor processing equipment is heat-exchanged with the refrigerant in the evaporator 150, the temperature compensation is heated by any one or both of the brine heaters (162, 164) in the tank 160, the brine pump ( 170 to form a path to the semiconductor processing equipment.

Temperature sensing sensors RTD2 and RTD1 are installed at the brine input and output stages, respectively, temperature sensing sensor RTD3 is installed at the evaporator output stage, and temperature sensing sensor RTD4 is installed at the front end of the brine pump 170.

According to the present invention, the brine is supplied to the semiconductor equipment as the final control set value through the refrigerant cooling control and the heater heating compensation control, in this process the minimum output control of the heater is made.

3 is a flowchart showing a temperature control method according to the present invention.

Optionally, the calorific value of the brine pump 170 is calculated. In other words, in order to consider the load caused by the motor heating when the brine pump 170 is driven, the calorific value is calculated (step S31). If the pump operating conditions change according to the pipe resistance in the field, the motor heating load of the pump can have a great influence on the temperature control.

The calorific value of the brine pump can be obtained by the following equation.

Q _PUMP = G × C × (PV _{RTD1 -PV RTD4} ) ..................... (1)

Here, PV _RTD1 is the temperature measurement value (° C) by the temperature sensor RTD1 110, PV _RTD4 is the temperature measurement value (° C) by the temperature sensor RTD4 (140), and G is the brine circulation amount (kg / h ) And C is the specific heat (B / kg ° C) of the brine.

Next, the heater minimum output amount W is set (step S32). That is, the operator inputs an appropriate setting value in consideration of the capacity of the heaters 162 and 164 installed. Here, two heaters 162 and 164 may be installed, for example, 1.0 kW and 2.0 kW, to sufficiently cope with an external load. However, the heaters 162 and 164 may be any one heaters.

For example, in the case of installing a heater of 1.0 kW, the operator can set 20W as the heater minimum output amount (W).

The cooling control set value is then calculated (step S33). The cooling control set value represents a temperature set value of the brine that is controlled by the refrigerant through the evaporator 150. The cooling control set value can be obtained from the following equation.

Preferably, the calculation of the cooling control set value SV _RTD3 is calculated by the following equation.

Q _T = Q _{H / T} + Q _PUMP ..................................... ......... (2)

G × C × (PV _RTD1 -PV _RTD3 ) = [G × C × (PV _RTD4 -PV _RTD3 )] + [G × C × (PV _RTD1 -PV _RTD4 )]

Here, Q _{H / T} represents the heater minimum output amount set in step S32, Q _PUMP is the heat generation amount by the pump motor, and Q _T is the total load amount indicating the sum of the heater minimum output amount and the pump heat generation amount.

Specifically, when the PV _RTD1 and PV _RTD3 are assumed to be temperature controlled in Equation (2), the conditions PV _RTD1 = SV _RTD1 and PV _RTD3 = SV _RTD3 are established. The set temperature input to control in semiconductor equipment is SV _RTD1 , SV _RTD1 = PV _RTD1 It can be replaced by the PV _RTD1 value in the above calculation by the condition, and the pump heating value (Q) calculated based on the set heater minimum output amount (Q _{H / T} ) and the sensor measured values PV _RTD1 and PV _RTD4 in the above formula (1). by asking for PV _RTD3 with the _PUMP) based on the equation (2) can be derived SV _RTD3 of PV _RTD3 = SV _RTD3 cooling control under the conditions set value.

Next, the cooling control is performed by adjusting the opening degree of the expansion valve 180 installed at the front end of the evaporator 150 based on the calculated cooling control set value SV _RTD3 (step S34). At this time, the measured value detected by the temperature sensor RTD3 installed at the output of the evaporator 150 is fed back and the controller (not shown) compares it with the cooling control set value SV _RTD3 to adjust the opening degree of the expansion valve 180.

Subsequently, heating compensation output control is performed using the brine heaters 162 and 164 with respect to the cooling-controlled brine to perform temperature control to the final control set value (step S35). That is, temperature control of the final control set value is performed with the heater minimum output amount set in step S32. Preferably, the correction coefficient may be applied to the heater minimum output amount in order to ensure the temperature control stability in the heater control.

If it is determined that the minimum heater output amount set through the above process is sufficient to control the temperature to the final control set value, the heater minimum output amount set in step S32 is set as the final heater minimum output amount, otherwise the heater minimum value is set. Change the setting value of the output quantity and repeat the above steps.

By repeating this process, it is possible to minimize the power consumption by the heater output by setting the optimum heater minimum output amount.

In the above description, the embodiment of the present invention has been described, but various changes can be made at the level of those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited to the above embodiment, but should be interpreted by the claims described below.

1 is a system diagram showing an example of a chiller apparatus for a conventional semiconductor processing equipment.

2 is a block diagram showing a brine path for applying the method of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart showing a temperature control method according to the present invention.

Claims (5)

It is applied to the chiller device that performs heat exchange with the brine provided to the semiconductor processing equipment in the evaporator installed in the refrigerant path. Setting a minimum output amount of the brine heater; Calculating a cooling control set value based on the heater minimum output amount; Performing cooling control of the brine by adjusting an opening degree of an expansion valve installed at the front end of the evaporator based on the calculated cooling control set value; And And performing final control by performing heating compensation control of the cooling-controlled brine with the set heater minimum output amount. The method according to claim 1, And when it is determined that the final control is sufficiently performed at the set heater minimum output amount, setting the set heater minimum output amount to a final heater minimum output amount. It is applied to the chiller device that performs heat exchange with the brine provided to the semiconductor processing equipment in the evaporator installed in the refrigerant path. Calculating a calorific value of the brine pump; Setting a minimum output amount of the brine heater; Calculating a cooling control set value based on the calculated pump heating value and the heater minimum output amount; Performing cooling control of the brine by adjusting an opening degree of an expansion valve installed at the front end of the evaporator based on the calculated cooling control set value; And And performing final control by performing heating compensation control of the cooling-controlled brine with the set heater minimum output amount. The method according to claim 3, The pump heating value is the temperature control method of the chiller device is calculated by the following equation. Q _PUMP = G × C × (PV _{RTD1 -PV RTD4} ) Here, PV _RTD1 is the temperature measured value (℃) by the temperature sensor installed at the brine supply stage, PV _RTD4 is the temperature measured value (℃) by the temperature sensor installed at the front of the pump, and G is the brine circulation amount ( Kg / h), and C is the specific heat of brine (㎉ / ㎏ ° C.) The method according to claim 4, The cooling control set value is calculated by the following equation. Q _T = Q _{H / T} + Q _PUMP = G × C × (PV _RTD1 -PV _RTD3 ) Where Q _{H / T} represents the set minimum heater output, Q _PUMP is the heat generated by the pump motor, and Q _T is the total load that represents the sum of the heater minimum output and the pump heat output, and PV _RTD1 and PV _RTD3 are respectively of a SV _RTD3 final control set value SV of _RTD1 and cooling control value)

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