KR20040041257A - Outside air-conditioning system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An external air controller is provided to secure the sufficient removing efficiency of filters by collecting pollutants through a dust collecting unit. CONSTITUTION: A first air inflow pipe(100) is installed to flow external air in. A first interrupting film(102) is installed at a front end of the first air inflow pipe to interrupt the external air from flowing into the first air inflow pipe. A cyclone dust collecting unit(104) is installed on one side of the first air inflow pipe and collects fine pollutants from air flowed into the first air inflow pipe. The cyclone dust collecting unit separates the fine pollutants by using centrifugal force generated by vortex of gas or fluid. A plurality of filters(110b,110c) are arranged to filter the fine pollutants from air flowed into an air purifying pipe(110).

Description

Outside air-conditioning system

The present invention relates to an external air regulator for purifying external air. More specifically, the present invention relates to an external air conditioner capable of purifying the external air to a desired level even when abnormal amounts of pollutants are contained in the external air.

Precision products, such as semiconductor devices, are typically manufactured in clean rooms that are free of contaminants larger than specified sizes. In particular, the degree of contamination of the clean room for semiconductor manufacturing is an important factor directly related to the semiconductor manufacturing yield. Moreover, recent semiconductor devices have been highly integrated, and the diameter of the wafer for manufacturing the semiconductor device has become larger. Therefore, even a minute contaminant in the clean room may cause a defect in the semiconductor device, so that the clean index in the clean room is more strictly managed.

The air conditioning system of the clean room is largely composed of an external air regulator, a lower plenum, and an upper plenum. Each of the air conditioning system elements is provided with systems capable of performing gas particulate contamination control step by step.

In the clean room air conditioning system, the external air regulator plays an important role in controlling the temperature / humidity fluctuation according to the season while controlling the pollution of the external air to a certain level first in the process of introducing external air into the clean room.

An example of a clean room that includes the external air regulator is disclosed in US Pat. No. 5,752,985 to Nagafune et al.

However, when a sudden increase in particulate contamination of the outside air, such as yellow sand, excessive pollutants enter the outside air regulator. When too much contaminants enter the external air regulator, the filtering efficiency of the filters provided in the external air regulator reaches its limit. Because of this, the external air regulator does not normally control the contaminants contained in the external air. The uncontrolled contaminants enter the circulation base, the air temperature and the clean room to contaminate the clean room. Specifically, in the semiconductor device manufactured at the time when yellow sand occurred, defects such as water spots are more likely to occur than usual.

1 is a graph showing particle concentrations contained in external air at the time of occurrence of yellow dust and normal.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a particle concentration included in monthly average external air for each year, and reference numeral 12 denotes a concentration of the highest particle included in external air at the time of yellow dust occurrence for each year.

Referring to FIG. 1, the highest concentration of particles during the occurrence of yellow dust is increasing to a serious level every year. In particular, the concentration of particles is increased by about 210% in 2002 compared to 2001. In addition, the rate at which the concentration of the particles is increased is expected to increase even more each year. Therefore, the pollution of the clean room due to the pollution of the outside air is considered to be more serious every year.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an external air regulator capable of purifying external air containing a large amount of contaminants.

1 is a graph showing particle concentrations contained in external air at the time of occurrence of yellow dust and normal.

2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an external air regulator according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the cyclone dust collector included in the external regulator of the present invention.

4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an external air regulator according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100, 200: first air inlet pipe 102, 202: first blocking film

104, 204: cyclone dust collector 106, 206: second air inlet pipe

108,208: Second barrier film 110,210: Air purification pipe

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention, the first air inlet pipe, which is introduced into the outside air, is installed on one side of the first air inlet pipe to collect fine pollutants in the air introduced into the first air inlet pipe Provided is an external air regulator having a cyclone dust collector, an air purifying tube connected to the cyclone dust collector and including a plurality of filters for purifying air therein.

The external air regulator may further include a first blocking film that blocks external air from entering the first air inlet pipe at a front end of the first air inlet pipe.

The external air regulator may further include a second air inlet pipe that introduces external air in a path separate from the first air inlet pipe.

The external air regulator may further include a second blocking film that blocks external air from flowing into the second air inlet pipe at the front end of the second air inlet pipe.

According to the present invention, the external air conditioner purifies the external air by passing through the plurality of filters after removing the fine contaminants by the cyclone dust collector. Even though the outside air contains a large amount of fine pollutants, the air from which the pollutants have been removed is introduced into the second air inlet pipe connected to the cyclone dust collector. Therefore, the removal efficiency of the filters provided in the second air inlet pipe can be sufficiently secured to minimize contamination of the clean room.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First embodiment

2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an external air regulator according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, a first air inlet pipe 100 through which external air is introduced is provided. The first air inlet pipe 100 is formed to extend in the same direction as the general direction in which the outside air moves. Specifically, the first air inlet pipe 100 extends horizontally with the ground.

A first blocking layer 102 is installed at the front end of the first air inlet pipe 100 and blocks external air from entering the first air inlet pipe 100. The first blocking layer 102 opens or closes the first blocking layer 102 so that external air may or may not be introduced into the first air inlet pipe 100.

A cyclone dust collector 104 is installed at one side of the first air inlet pipe 100 and collects fine contaminants in the air introduced into the first air inlet pipe 100.

The cyclone dust collector 104 separates fine contaminants by using centrifugal force generated by swirl flow of gas or fluid.

3 is a schematic diagram of the cyclone dust collector 104.

The cyclone dust collecting part is largely composed of a cone-shaped cyclone body 104a which is gradually concentric with the bottom portion, and a discharge flow path tube 104b which penetrates through the center of the upper surface of the cyclone body 104a. .

The cyclone body 104a is connected to one side of the first air inlet pipe so as to communicate with the first air inlet pipe 100. The discharge flow path tube 104b is connected to a fan (not shown) to transfer suction force generated by the rotation of the fan into the cyclone body 104a. Therefore, when the suction force is transmitted through the discharge flow path tube 104b, the suction force is transmitted to the first air inlet tube 100 through the cyclone body 104a. As a result, external air introduced through the first air inlet pipe 100 is sucked into the cyclone body 104a.

At this time, air and various contaminants introduced into the cyclone body 104a are rotated along the inner wall surface of the cyclone body 104a, and in this process, air whose mass is almost neglected is subjected to centrifugal force. As such, they form at the center of the cyclone to form a rising swirling vortex. In addition, the contaminants contained in the air are moved downward by riding on the inner wall surface of the cyclone body 104a by its own weight. Thus, the air and contaminants in the air are separated.

It is provided with a second air inlet pipe 106 for introducing the outside air in a separate path from the first air inlet pipe (100). The second air inlet pipe 106 is formed to extend in the same direction as the general direction in which the outside air moves.

A second blocking film 108 is installed at the tip of the second air inlet pipe 106 and blocks external air from entering the second air inlet pipe 106. The second blocking film 108 opens or closes the second blocking film 108 so that external air may or may not be introduced into the second air inlet pipe 106. That is, the outside air is selectively introduced into the first air inlet pipe 100 or the second air inlet pipe 106 by opening or closing the first and second blocking films 102 and 108.

An air purifying pipe 110 is connected to the discharge flow path pipe 104b of the cyclone dust collecting part 104 and the second air inlet pipe 106. That is, when external air flows into the first air inlet pipe 100, air from which the pollutant is first removed from the cyclone dust collector 104 is introduced into the air purification pipe 110. If the outside air flows into the second air inlet pipe 106, the outside air flows into the air purification pipe 110 as it is.

The air purifying pipe 110 includes a plurality of filters 110b and 110c for filtering contaminants contained in the air, a heater 110d and a cooler 110e for adjusting the temperature of the air, and a humidity for the air. The humidifier 110f and the blower 110g which introduces air and moves to a predetermined direction are provided.

The plurality of filters 110b and 110c are arranged to be filtered in order from the size of the pollutant contained in the air flowing into the air purification pipe 110 from the larger. That is, the filters are arranged so that the filter located in the rear can filter even finer contaminants than the filter located in the front.

For example, a demister 110a for removing moisture and foreign matter in the air is provided. A medium filter 110b is provided at the rear of the remover 110a. The HEPA filter 110c is provided at the rear of the medium filter 110b to filter particles having a size of 0.3 μm from the particles included in the air at an efficiency of 99.97%. Passing through the filters is filtered in order from the size of the contaminant contained in the outside air.

A heater 110d is provided at the rear of the filters 110b and 110c. The heater 110d raises the temperature of the outside air. A cooler 110e is provided behind the heater 110d. The cooler 110e maintains the air in the air purification pipe 110 at a constant temperature. When the outside air temperature is high, only the cooler 110e may be operated. A humidifier 110f is provided behind the heater 110d. The humidifier 110f adjusts the absolute humidity of the air to the humidity required by the clean room. The blower 110g is provided at the rear of the humidifier 110f. The blower 110g introduces external air and moves the cleaned air to a predetermined pressure and air volume. A hepa filter (110h) for finally filtering the purified air in the rear of the blower (110h) in the air purification pipe is further provided.

However, it is noted that the filters, heaters, coolers, and blowers provided in the air purifying pipe can vary the arrangement order.

The external air regulator according to the embodiment of the present invention may introduce external air through the first air inlet pipe 100 or the second air inlet pipe 106. In addition, when the outside air is introduced through the first air inlet pipe 100, the pollutant may be first removed through the cyclone dust collector, and then the air may be filtered in the air purification pipe 110.

Therefore, when the yellow dust occurs when the air pollutant is excessively increased, the second air inlet tube 106 is closed and external air is introduced through the first air inlet tube 100. In addition, the cyclone dust collector 104 removes contaminants in the external air primarily, and then filters the air in the air purification pipe 110. Therefore, even if the pollutant in the outside air is excessively increased due to yellow dust, the removal efficiency of the filters in the air purification pipe 110 can be sufficiently secured, thereby minimizing the contamination of the clean room.

In addition, when the pollutant of the outside air is maintained at the average level, the outside air is introduced through the second air inlet pipe 106. That is, since the cyclone dust collector 104 is not normally operated, an increase in production cost due to the operation of the cyclone dust collector 104 can be minimized.

Second embodiment

The second embodiment described below is the same as the first embodiment except for the shapes of the first air inlet pipe and the second air inlet pipe.

4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an external air regulator according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, a first air inlet pipe 200 through which external air is introduced is provided. The first air inlet pipe 200 introduces external air in a direction perpendicular to a general direction in which air moves from the outside, and the drawn air is externally provided at a predetermined portion of the first air inlet pipe 200. It is formed to move in parallel with the general direction in which air moves. That is, the portion in which the external air is drawn in the first air inlet pipe 200 is positioned perpendicular to the direction in which the air moves from the outside. The first air inlet pipe 200 is bent to be positioned horizontally with a direction in which air moves from the outside at a predetermined portion.

By changing the direction of the external air introduced into the inlet of the first air inlet 200 vertically, it is possible to reduce the inflow of contaminants contained in the external air into the first air inlet 200.

A first blocking film 202 is installed at the front end of the first air inlet pipe 200 and blocks external air from entering the first air inlet pipe 200.

The cyclone dust collector 204 is installed at one side of the first air inlet pipe 200 and collects fine contaminants in the air introduced into the first air inlet pipe 200. The cyclone dust collector 204 separates fine contaminants by using centrifugal force generated by swirl flow of gas or fluid.

A second air inlet pipe 206 for introducing external air in a path separate from the first air inlet pipe 200 is provided. The second air inlet pipe 206 introduces external air in a direction perpendicular to a general direction in which air moves from the outside, and the drawn air is externally provided at a predetermined portion of the second air inlet pipe 206. It is formed to move in parallel with the general direction in which air moves. That is, the portion where the outside air is drawn in the second air inlet pipe 206 is located perpendicular to the direction in which the air moves from the outside. The second air inlet pipe 206 is bent to be positioned horizontally with a direction in which air moves from the outside at a predetermined portion.

By changing the direction of the outside air flowing into the inlet of the second air inlet pipe 206 vertically, it is possible to reduce the inflow of pollutants contained in the outside air into the second air inlet pipe 206.

A second blocking film 208 is installed at the tip of the second air inlet pipe 206 and blocks external air from entering the second air inlet pipe 206.

The air purification pipe 210 is provided to be connected to the cyclone dust collector 204 and the second air inlet pipe 206. The air purifier 210 includes a remover 210a and a plurality of filters 210b and 210c for removing contaminants contained in the air, a heater 210d and a cooler 210e for controlling the temperature of the air, and air. Humidifier 201f for adjusting the humidity of the air blower 210g for introducing air and moving in a predetermined direction. A hepa filter 210h is further provided at the rear of the blower 210h for finally filtering the purified air.

The external air regulator according to the second embodiment introduces external air into the first or second air inlet pipes 200 and 206 in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which air moves from the outside. Therefore, the contaminants contained in the outside air can be reduced to be introduced into the first or second air inlet pipe (200, 206).

As described above, according to the present invention, even if a large amount of fine pollutants are contained in the outside air, since the pollutants are collected by the dust collector, the removal efficiency of the filters can be sufficiently secured to minimize contamination of the clean room.

As described above, although described with reference to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, those skilled in the art will be variously modified without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention described in the claims below. And can be changed.

Claims (8)

A first air inlet pipe through which outside air is introduced; A cyclone dust collecting unit installed at one side of the first air inlet pipe and collecting fine dust in the air flowing into the first air inlet pipe; And And an air purifying tube connected to the cyclone dust collecting unit and including a plurality of filters for purifying the air therein. The external air conditioner of claim 1, further comprising a first blocking film at a front end of the first air inlet pipe to block external air from entering the first air inlet pipe. The external air regulator of claim 1, wherein the first air inlet pipe is formed to extend in the same direction as the air moves from the outside. The air inlet of claim 1, wherein the first air inlet pipe introduces external air in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which air moves from the outside, and the air introduced into the first air inlet pipe is predetermined within the first air inlet pipe. External air conditioner, characterized in that formed to move in parallel to the direction in which the air from the outside moves. The external air regulator of claim 1, further comprising a second air inlet pipe that introduces external air in a path separate from the first air inlet pipe. The external air conditioner according to claim 5, further comprising a second blocking film at the front end of the second air inlet pipe to block external air from entering the second air inlet pipe. The external air regulator of claim 5, wherein the second air inlet pipe is formed to extend in the same direction as the air moves from the outside. The method of claim 5, wherein the second air inlet pipe introduces external air in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which air moves from the outside, and the air introduced into the second air inlet pipe is predetermined within the second air inlet pipe. External air conditioner, characterized in that formed to move in parallel to the direction in which the air from the outside moves.