TWM566905U - Container door and sealed container - Google Patents

Abstract

A container door includes a door body, a latch mechanism and a first sealing unit. The opposite sides of the door body are respectively provided with at least one perforation, and have an outer door panel and an inner door panel. The outer peripheral panel has a peripheral contour larger than the outer peripheral contour of the inner door panel, and the outer door panel is provided with a locking hole. The latching mechanism is disposed between the outer door panel and the inner door panel, and includes a control member disposed corresponding to the locking hole and a latching member connected to the control member and respectively corresponding to the perforation, and the control member can be operated by the external through the locking hole to interlock the latch The lock member converts the latch member between a locked position projecting outside the door via the perforations and a release position that does not protrude outside the door. The first sealing unit is coupled to the latch mechanism such that the outside of the keyhole is not communicated via the keyhole, between the interior of the door body and the outer side of the perforation, at least when the latch member is in the locked position.

Description

Container door and sealed container

The present invention relates to a sealed container and a container door, and more particularly to a sealed container and container door for storing or transporting wafers.

A conventional semiconductor container, such as a front open wafer cassette (FOUP), the door of the wafer cassette is provided with a latching mechanism for locking the door and the box body, and a key hole is provided on the outer side of the door for key insertion and control The locking mechanism is locked and unlocked, and an opening/perforation is provided on the upper and lower side edges of the door for the latching member of the latching mechanism to protrude to lock the door to the casing. A seal is provided on the inner periphery of the door. When the door is combined with the case, the seal is sandwiched between the door and the case to close the gap between the door and the case, thereby preventing external particulate contaminants from entering the wafer cassette. Moreover, in order to prevent external particulate contaminants from entering the wafer cassette through the keyhole through the inside of the door and through the opening/perforation, the keyhole, the latching member and the opening/perforating structure/component need to be disposed on the door. The seal is located further on the outer side.

However, since the seal is located inside the door, the keyhole, the latching member and the opening/perforating structure/assembly are to be placed on the outside, that is, the thickness of the door must be able to accommodate both the seal, the latch and the opening/perforation. Such a structure/component, such as not only increasing the thickness of the door, but also forming a shoulder for the seal against the inside of the opening of the casing, also increases the size of the entire wafer cassette in the front-rear direction.

Therefore, how to reduce the size of the semiconductor container door and the whole container, in particular, to reduce the size in the front-rear direction, and at the same time, to balance the sealing effect of the door and the box body to provide sufficient protection for the contents thereof, It has become a topic that the industry is trying to solve.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a container door that solves at least the aforementioned problems.

Thus, in some embodiments, the container door of the present invention is adapted to be detachably combined with a casing to form a sealed container, the container door comprising a door body, at least one latching mechanism, and a first sealing unit . The two opposite sides of the door body are respectively provided with at least one perforation, and the door body has an outer door panel and an inner door panel which are combined and fixed, and the outer peripheral panel has a peripheral contour larger than the outer peripheral contour of the inner door panel, and the outer door panel is provided with At least one keyhole. The at least one latching mechanism is disposed between the outer door panel and the inner door panel, and includes a control member disposed corresponding to the locking hole and two latching members connected to the control member and respectively corresponding to the two perforations. The control member can be externally transmitted through the locking hole to interlock the latching members such that the latching members can protrude from the locking position of the outside of the door through the perforations and Switching between the release positions of the external body of the door. The first sealing unit is coupled to the latching mechanism such that the outer side of the locking hole is not communicated via the locking hole, the interior of the door body to the outer side of the perforations, at least when the latching members are in the locked position.

In some embodiments, a second sealing unit disposed on the door body is further included.

In some embodiments, the latch members each have a latching portion that extends beyond the corresponding through hole, and the first sealing unit includes a ring stop portion that protrudes around each of the latching portions.

In some embodiments, each of the ring stops is in airtight contact with the corresponding peripheral edge of the perforation when the latches are in the locked position.

In some implementations, the first sealing unit includes two sealing rings that are interposed between the corresponding ring stop and the inner door plate when the latching members are in the locked position. The perforations are closed in close proximity.

In some embodiments, the sealing rings are respectively sleeved on the latching portions of the latching members and adjacent to the corresponding ringing portions, so that when the latching members are in the locked position, a sealing ring is interposed between the corresponding ring stop and the inner door panel to hermetically close the perforations, and the sealing rings move with the corresponding latch members, and the latches are located at the latches The sealing ring leaves the perforations when the position is released.

In some embodiments, the control member is a turntable and the axis of the turntable is aligned with the lock hole, and the first seal unit includes a seal sandwiched between the outer door panel and the control member and surrounding the lock hole. And the seal is in airtight contact with the outer door panel and the control member.

In some embodiments, the control member is formed with a positioning slot for positioning the seal.

In some embodiments, the outer door panel is formed with a locating slot for positioning the seal.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sealed container comprising the aforementioned container door.

Thus, in some embodiments, the sealed container of the present invention comprises: a box body; and a container door as described in any of the preceding embodiments, the container door being detachably and airtightly connected to the box body combination.

The present invention has the following effects: the first sealing unit is connected to the latching mechanism, so that the outer side of the locking holes can pass through the locking hole and the inside of the door body when the latching members are in the locking position. The outer sides of the perforations are not connected, so that when the container door is combined with the box body and locked, foreign particulate contaminants are prevented from entering the sealed container through the locking holes and the perforations.

Before the present invention is described in detail, it should be noted that in the following description, similar elements are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, a first embodiment of the novel sealed container comprises a casing 1 and a container door 2.

The box body 1 has two upright side walls 11 spaced apart from each other, a top wall 12 connected to the top end of the side walls 11, a bottom wall 13 connected to the bottom end of the side walls 11, and simultaneously connected to the side walls 11, The top wall 12, the rear wall 14 at the rear end of the bottom wall 13, and a door frame 15 which is frame-shaped and simultaneously connected to the side walls 11, the top wall 12, and the front end of the bottom wall 13.

The door frame 15 defines an opening 151 opposite to the rear wall 14 and is provided with at least two card slots 152 respectively located on opposite sides. In the first embodiment, two card slots 152 are respectively disposed on the upper and lower sides of the door frame 15, and the two card slots 152 on the upper side respectively correspond to the positions of the two card slots 152 on the lower side, so that the upper and lower sides correspond to each other. The two card slots 152 are a group, and there are two sets of card slots 152.

The container door 2 is detachably combined with the casing 1 to hermetically close the opening 151. Referring to FIGS. 3-6, the container door 2 includes a door body 21, at least one latch mechanism 22, a first sealing unit 23, and a second sealing unit 24.

The door body 21 has an outer door panel 211 and an inner door panel 212 fixed in combination. The outer peripheral panel 211 has a peripheral contour larger than the outer peripheral contour of the inner door panel 212, and the door body 21 is assembled with the door frame 15 when combined with the casing 1 (see FIG. 1) and exposes the outer door panel 211. The outer door panel 211 is provided with at least one keyhole 211a for a key (not shown) to extend.

Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 4 and FIG. 6, in particular, in the first embodiment, the outer door panel 211 is provided with two locking holes 211a extending through the outer door panel 211, and two outer door panels 211 are further provided. The outer surface is recessed but does not extend through the positioning hole 211b of the outer door panel 211 for aligning the two suction cup devices (not shown) for the processing machine table to suck the container door 2 for the operation of opening and closing the door.

The inner door panel 212 is an integrally formed structure, and further has a flat plate portion 212b and a surrounding wall portion 212c extending perpendicularly from the peripheral edge of the flat plate portion 212b. Two through holes 212a are formed on the upper and lower sides of the surrounding wall portion 212c. Similarly, the two upper and lower corresponding through holes 212a are a group, and two sets of through holes 212a are shared to respectively correspond to the two sets of the card slots 152 on the door frame 15.

At the same time, the two sets of the through holes 212a respectively correspond to the two lock holes 211a, so that each of the lock holes 211a and the corresponding set of the through holes 212a and the set of the card slots 152 are arranged correspondingly in the up and down direction.

Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 4 to FIG. 6, in the first embodiment, the container door 2 includes two sets of latching mechanisms 22 disposed between the outer door panel 211 and the inner door panel 212, and two sets of latching mechanisms 22 Corresponding to the two locking holes 211a of the outer door panel 211 and the two sets of the through holes 212a and the card slots 152.

Each set of latching mechanisms 22 includes a control member 221 disposed at a position corresponding to the locking hole 211a, two latch members 222 coupled to the control member 221 and respectively disposed to correspond to the two through holes 212a, and a resilient arm 223 .

The control member 221 can be operated by the key to interlock the latches 222. Specifically, the control member 221 is a turntable whose axis is aligned with the lock hole 211a, and has a disk body 221a protruding from the disk. The rotating shaft 221b of the body 221a, and a positioning post 221c protruding from the disk body 221a and adjacent to the outer circumference of the disk body 221a.

The disk body 221a is provided with two guiding slots 221d respectively corresponding to the two latching members 222 for respectively driving the two latching members 222 by a cam mechanism, so that the latching members 222 can pass through the through holes 212a. The door body 21 is protruded from the outside of the door body 21 to be inserted into the locking position of the card slot 152 and is switched between the unlocking position of the card slot 152 and the unlocking position of the card slot 152.

The center of the rotating shaft 221b is provided with an elongated operating slot 221e. The operating slot 221e is sized to cooperate with the locking hole 211a for the key to be inserted by the external through the locking hole 211a to operate the control member 221 to rotate.

When the control member 221 drives the latching member 222 to approach the locking position, so that the positioning post 221c spans the bending apex on the elastic arm 223, the positioning post 221 is pressed by the bending apex of the elastic arm 223, The pushing, in turn, drives the disk body 221a of the control member 221 to rotate to ensure that the control member 221 can surely extend the latching member 222 to fully extend to the locked position.

With such a structural design, it is possible to avoid the fact that the operator does not inadvertently rotate the key together with the control member 221 to the correct locking position during the manual operation, so that the latch member 222 does not fully extend into the corresponding card slot. In 152, an unexpected situation occurs in which the container door 2 is locked in an unreliable manner and falls off.

Similarly, when the user applies the key to rotate the control member 221 such that the disk body 221a moves the latch member 222 toward the unlocking position, the positioning post 221c is elasticized when it passes the bending apex of the elastic arm 223. The pushing of the arm 223 assists in driving the latching member 222 to move toward the unlocking position, and the locking state of the container door 2 and the casing 1 can be surely released.

In addition, the inner door panel 212 is formed with two positioning convex rings 212e on the inner side of the flat plate portion 212b, and the two positioning convex rings 212e are rotatably connected to the control members 221 of the two latching mechanisms 22, respectively. The two control members 221 can be positioned corresponding to the inner door panel 212.

Referring to FIG. 4 to FIG. 6 , the first sealing unit 23 is connected to the corresponding latching mechanism 22 to pass through the outer sides of the respective locking holes 211 a when the latching members 222 are in the locked position. The keyhole 211a, the interior of the door body 21, and the perforations 212a do not form a passage for communicating gas to prevent the gas containing particulate contaminants in the external environment from entering the sealed container of the embodiment through the path.

In the first embodiment, the latch members 222 each have a latching portion 222a that extends beyond the through hole 212a. The first sealing unit 23 connected to each of the latching mechanisms 22 includes a ringing portion 222b protruding around each of the latching portions 222a, and sleeved on the two latching members 222 and adjacent to the corresponding ringstops. Two seal rings 231 of 222b. Since the container door 2 of the present embodiment has two sets of latch mechanisms 22, a total of four seal rings 231 are provided.

When the latches 222 are in the locked position, the seals 231 are interposed between the corresponding ring stops 222b and the inner door panel 212 to hermetically seal the through holes 212a. When the latches 222 are in the unlocked position, the seals 231 move away from the perforations 212a with the corresponding latches 222.

In other words, when the sealed container shown in this embodiment is placed in a clean environment such as a clean room, when the container door 2 is separated from the case 1 to open the sealed container, the operator or the automation device When the key is inserted into the lock hole 211a, and then the disk body 221a of the control member 221 is rotated to move the latch member 222 to the release position, the seal rings 231 are respectively removed from the corresponding latch member 222. The perforations 212a are equal.

At this time, if there is no passage for the gas to flow between the inside and the outside of the sealed container, the movement of the container door 2 to the outside of the sealed container to separate from the casing 1 actually causes the container door 2 to The volume of space between the casings 1 is instantaneously increased, so that the pressure in the sealed container is lowered to be lower than the pressure of the external environment, thereby causing the door opening action to be resisted, increasing the load on the operator or the automation equipment.

However, since the container door 2 used in the embodiment moves to the unlocking position of the latch member 222, the sealing ring 231 moves away from the corresponding perforations 212a with the corresponding latch member 222, so that the gas outside the container door 2 is made. The sealed container can be inserted through the locking holes 211a and the through holes 212a, thereby balancing the air pressure inside and outside the sealed container, so that the container door 2 can be easily removed from the case 1.

In addition, the second sealing unit 24 is annularly disposed on the door body 21 to close the gap between the door body 21 and the door frame 15 when the container door 2 is combined with the box body 1, and the door body 21 can be further strengthened. The sealing effect between the door frames 15.

In the first embodiment, the second sealing unit 24 surrounds the outer periphery of the inner door panel 212 and protrudes from the outer side of the outer door panel 211 to protrude the inner side of the inner door panel 212, so that the second sealing unit 24 is in the container. When the door 2 is combined with the casing 1, it is interposed between the inside of the outer door panel 211 and the front side of the door frame 15 (see Fig. 1). Since the outer peripheral contour of the outer door panel 211 is larger than the outer peripheral contour of the inner door panel 212, in a modified embodiment, the second sealing unit 24 can be omitted, so that the door body 21 and the door frame 15 are in close contact with each other.

Referring to Figure 8, a second embodiment of the novel sealed container differs from the first embodiment in that the first sealing unit 23 attached to the latch mechanism 22 includes a clip attached to the outer door panel 211 and the latches. The sealing member 232 between the control member 221 of the lock mechanism 22 and surrounding the corresponding locking hole 211a, and the sealing member 232 is in airtight contact with the outer door panel 211 and the control member 221 to block gas from the locking hole 211a enters the passage in the door body 21.

That is, in the second embodiment, instead of the first embodiment, the latch is inserted between each of the control member 221 and the outer door panel 211 with a seal 232 surrounding the corresponding lock hole 211a. The member 222 is sleeved with a structure of a sealing ring 231 (see Fig. 7). Preferably, each of the control members 221 is formed with a positioning groove 233 for positioning the sealing member 232.

Since the rotating shaft 221b of the control member 221 is rotatably sleeved on the positioning convex ring 212e protruding from the flat plate portion 212b of the inner door panel 212, the flat portion 212b does not have a penetrating portion, so the outer portion is sealed by the sealing member 232. The gas is directly isolated from the lock hole 211a of the outer door panel 211, and the outside air can also be prevented from entering the door body 21 and then entering the sealed container through the through holes 212a. In a variant embodiment, a positioning groove 233 for positioning the seal 232 may also be formed on the outer door panel 211.

It can be seen from the above description that the first sealing unit 23 is connected to the latch mechanism 22 in such a manner that the first sealing unit 23 is integrally formed in the first embodiment and is connected to the latch mechanism 22 or mounted. The first sealing unit 23 is mounted on the latch mechanism 22 or between the outer door panel 211 and the latch mechanism 22 as shown in the second embodiment, but is not limited thereto.

In summary, the first sealing unit 23 is connected to each of the latching mechanisms 22 so that the outer side of the locking holes 211a can pass through the locking holes 211a when the latching members 222 are in the locking position. The inside of the door body 21 is not connected to the outside of the perforations 212a, so that when the container door 2 is combined with the box body 1 and locked, foreign particulate contaminants are prevented from entering the sealed container through the lock holes 211a.

However, the above is only the embodiment of the present invention, and when it is not possible to limit the scope of the present invention, all the simple equivalent changes and modifications according to the scope of the patent application and the contents of the patent specification are still This new patent covers the scope.

1‧‧‧Box
11‧‧‧ side wall
12‧‧‧ top wall
13‧‧‧ bottom wall
14‧‧‧ Back wall
15‧‧‧ door frame
151‧‧‧ openings
152‧‧‧ card slot
2‧‧‧ container door
21‧‧‧
211‧‧‧External door panels
211a‧‧‧Keyhole
211b‧‧‧Positioning holes
212‧‧‧ inner door panel
212a‧‧‧Perforation
212b‧‧‧ Flat Department
212c‧‧‧The wall
212e‧‧‧ positioning collar
22‧‧‧Latch mechanism
221‧‧‧Controls
221a‧‧‧ dish
221b‧‧‧ shaft
221c‧‧‧Positioning column
221d‧‧‧ guiding slot
221e‧‧‧ operation slot
222‧‧‧Latches
222a‧‧‧Card Department
222b‧‧‧ Ring Block
223‧‧‧Flexible arm
23‧‧‧First sealing unit
231‧‧‧ sealing ring
232‧‧‧Seal
233‧‧‧ positioning slot
24‧‧‧Second sealing unit

Other features and effects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the sealed container of the present invention; Figure 2 is a first embodiment of the first embodiment 3 is a perspective view of a door of the first embodiment; FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 3; FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the door removing the outer door panel of the first embodiment; 6 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 5; and FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a second embodiment of the sealed container of the present invention.

Claims (10)

A container door adapted to be detachably combined with a casing to form a sealed container, the container door comprising: a door body, the opposite sides of the door body are respectively provided with at least one perforation, and the door body has a combination a fixed outer door panel and an inner door panel, wherein the outer peripheral panel has a peripheral contour greater than an outer peripheral contour of the inner door panel, the outer door panel is provided with at least one locking hole; and at least one latching mechanism is disposed on the outer door panel and the inner door panel And a control member disposed at a position corresponding to the keyhole and two latch members connected to the control member and respectively corresponding to the two perforations, the control member being externally movable through the lock hole to be operated to interlock a latching member for switching between a locked position projecting outwardly of the door through the perforations and a release position not protruding from the outside of the door; and a first sealing unit, Attached to the latching mechanism such that the outside of the locking hole passes through the locking hole, and the interior of the door body to the outside of the perforations is disconnected at least when the latching members are in the locking position. The container door of claim 1, further comprising a second sealing unit disposed on the door body. The container door according to claim 1, wherein the latch members each have a latching portion that can extend the corresponding perforation, and the first sealing unit includes a ring portion that protrudes around each of the latching portions. . The container door of claim 3, wherein each of the ring stops is in airtight contact with the corresponding peripheral edge of the perforation when the latches are in the locked position. The container door of claim 3, wherein the first sealing unit comprises two sealing rings, and the sealing ring is placed between the corresponding ring portion and the inner locking member when the locking member is in the locking position The perforations are hermetically sealed between the door panels. The container door according to claim 5, wherein the sealing rings are respectively sleeved on the latching portions of the latching members and adjacent to the corresponding ringing portions, so that the latching members are located in the locking position. The sealing ring is interposed between the corresponding ring stop and the inner door panel to hermetically close the perforations, and the sealing rings move with the corresponding latch members, and When the latch is in the unlocked position, the seals exit the perforations. The container door of claim 1, wherein the control member is a turntable and the axis of the turntable is aligned with the lock hole, the first sealing unit includes a clip between the outer door panel and the control member and surrounding the a sealing member of the keyhole, the sealing member being in airtight contact with the outer door panel and the control member. The container door of claim 7, wherein the control member is formed with a positioning groove for positioning the sealing member. The container door of claim 7, wherein the outer door panel is formed with a positioning groove for positioning the sealing member. A sealed container comprising: a container; and a container door according to any one of claims 1 to 9, the container door being detachably and airtightly combined with the case.