Patent Application
20150069282
The present invention relates to a gate valve, and in particular to a gate valve 100 comprising a valve blade 120 which comes into close contact with a valve seat 111 formed around an opening 112 in a valve housing 110 and is configured to close the opening 112 from inside; a valve rod 130 which is connected to the valve blade 120 and sealingly protrudes by way of a bellows 131 from the inside of the valve housing 110 to the outside and which moves in upward and downward direction and in a horizontal direction; a guide housing 140 which comprises an L-motion block guide groove 142 on both inner sides, further comprising an upward and downward driving section groove 143 which is connected to an outer side of the valve housing 110, formed upward and downward, and an opening and closing driving section groove 144 which is horizontally formed in series in the closing direction “C” on top of the upward and downward driving section groove 143; an L-motion block 150, connected to the valve rod 130, which installs on both inner sides, a guide roller 151 which is inserted and driven into the L-motion block guide groove 142; a driving block 160 which is connected respectively to an upper side and a lower side of the L-motion block 150 by way of at least one link 155; a tensile elasticity unit 170, at least more than one of which are installed between the L-motion block 150 and the driving block 160; and an upward and downward driving unit 180 which is configured to drive the driving block 160 upward and downward.
The present invention is directed to a gate valve which is configured to open or close an IC (Integrated Circuit) or a transfer passage which transfer processed things such as the parts of the IC from one vacuum process chamber to another vacuum process chamber, or open or close a flow passage of a fluid such as compressed fluid, gas, etc. or an exhaust gas flow passage.
Generally, in an apparatus for processing a semiconductor wafer or a liquid crystal substrate, the semiconductor wafer or the liquid crystal substrate is inserted or withdrawn from a variety of process chambers by way of a communication passageway, wherein a gate valve is typically installed in order to open or close it.
As an embodied example of the gate valve, many kinds of gate valves are disclosed. As an existing invention of such a gate valve, there is the Korean patent registration number 10-0338163 of the patent document 1 (the title of the invention; “gate valve”).
The gate valve of the above-mentioned patent document 1 is characterized in that a valve desk in a valve box is configured to freely move to a portion, and recedes from or comes into close contact with a valve seat by means of a valve rod which sealingly protrudes out of the valve box by means of an operation unit installed in the valve box. The gate valve allows the valve desk to be pressed against the valve seat in the valve box by inclined movement of the valve rod at the time the movement of the valve rod is almost finished. The operation unit may be configured to connect the piston rod and the valve rod of the piston-cylinder apparatus with the aid of the roller and the slanted long hole configured to guide the roller, or may be configured to connect their ends with the aid of a slanted link which freely pivots rotational movements.
As illustrated in
After structure of the gate valve which had a slanted, operative passageway as such was improved, as illustrated in
The vacuum valve of the above patent document 2 comprises a wall with a valve opening surrounded by a valve seat; at least one valve plate which is arranged in a vacuum region of the vacuum valve (here, the valve plate may be moved from an opening position to an intermediate position in a vertical direction, and it may be moved to from its intermediate position to a closing position in a horizontal direction which is at a right angle with respect to the vertical direction); at least one valve rod which has a valve plate (the valve rod may be guided out of the vacuum region of the vacuum valve and may move in a vertical direction or a horizontal direction wherein the vertical direction is in parallel with respect to the vertical axis of the valve rod); and a vertical drive apparatus and a horizontal drive apparatus which are arranged outside the vacuum region of the vacuum valve (the valve rod may be moved in a vertical direction or a horizontal direction by means of the above apparatuses so as to move the valve plate).
The vacuum valve of the patent document 2 was very efficient in its operative passageway; however, for such an operation, since it requires a vertical drive apparatus and a horizontal drive apparatus, it led to problems such as complicated structure, manufacturing cost. In addition, to perform accurate opening and closing operations, the vertical drive apparatus and the horizontal drive apparatus should cooperate and operate on accurate timing in set operation sequence, which led to a problem that more complicated components are necessary for this closely coordinated operation.
The present invention is directed to a gate valve which is configured to open or close a transfer passage through which an IC (Integrated Circuit) or processed things such as the parts of the IC are transferred from one vacuum process chamber to another or is configured to open or close a flow passage of a fluid such as compressed fluid, gas, etc. or an exhaust flow passage.
In an apparatus for processing a semiconductor wafer or a liquid crystal substrate, the semiconductor wafer or the liquid crystal substrate is inserted or withdrawn from a variety of process chambers by way of a communication passageway. A gate valve is typically installed in the communication passageway in order to open or close it.
As an example of the gate valve, there may be a variety of gate valves. As a representative example of such a gate valve, there is the Korean patent registration number 10-0338163 of the patent document 1 (title of the invention “gate valve”).
The gate valve of the above-mentioned patent document 1 is characterized in that a valve desk in a valve box is configured to freely move to a portion where recedes from or comes into contact with a valve seat by means of a valve rod which sealingly protrudes out of the valve box by means of an operation unit installed in the valve box. The gate valve allows the valve desk is pressed against the valve seat in the valve box since the valve rod obliquely moves at the time the movement of the valve rod is almost finished. The operation unit may be configured to connect the piston rod and the valve rod of the piston-cylinder apparatus with the aid of the roller and the slanted, long hole configured to guide the roller or may be configured to connect the ends of them with the aid of a slanted link which freely pivots rotational movements.
As illustrated in
In order to improve the construction of the gate valve which has a slanted, operative passageway, as illustrated in
The vacuum valve of the patent document 2 comprises a wall with a valve opening surrounded by a valve seat; at least one valve plate which is arranged in a vacuum region of the vacuum valve (here, the valve plate may be moved from an opening position to an intermediate position in a vertical direction, and it may be moved to from its intermediate position to a closing position in a horizontal direction which is vertical with respect to the vertical direction); at least one valve rod which has a valve plate (the valve rod may be guided out of the vacuum region of the vacuum valve and may move in a vertical direction or a horizontal direction wherein the vertical direction is in parallel with respect to the vertical coordinate of the valve rod); and a vertical drive apparatus and a horizontal drive apparatus which are arranged outside the vacuum region of the vacuum valve (the valve rod may be moved in a vertical direction or a horizontal direction by means of the above apparatuses so as to move the valve plate).
The vacuum valve of the patent document 2 is very efficient in its operative passageway; however for the sake of such an operation, it requires a vertical drive apparatus and a horizontal drive apparatus, and its construction is complicated, and manufacture cost is high. For the sake of accurate opening and closing operations, the vertical drive apparatus and the horizontal drive apparatus should cooperate and operate on accurate timing in set operation sequence. For this cooperation, more complicated elements are necessary.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a gate valve which is made so as to overcome the problems of the existing art and is characterized in that only one driving unit is provided, thus obtaining a reliable structure, and a closing operation may be performed in such a way that the valve plate is moved from an opening position to an intermediate portion in a vertical direction, and then is moved from its intermediate position to a closing position in a horizontal direction which is at a right angle with respect to the vertical direction or an opening operation may be performed in the sequence reverse to the above mentioned sequence. It is possible to prevent interference with a variety of components installed in the interior of the gate valve and prevent impurities produced by mechanical abrasion from entering into the process chamber, thus obtaining efficient operations.
To achieve the above objects, there is provided a gate valve, comprising a valve blade 120 which comes into close contact with a valve seat 111 formed around an opening 112 in a valve housing 10 and is configured to close the opening 112 from the inside; a valve rod 130 which is connected to the valve blade 120 and sealingly protrudes by way of a bellows 131 from the inside of the valve housing 110 to the outside and moves in the upward and downward direction and in a horizontal direction; a guide housing 140, further comprising an upward and downward driving section groove 143, formed upward and downward, which is connected to an outer side of the valve housing 110, and an L-motion block guide groove 142 which comprises an opening and closing driving section groove 144 which is formed horizontally in series in a closing direction “C” on top of the upward and downward driving section groove 143; an L-motion block 150 comprising a guide roller 151 which is connected to the valve rod 130, and on both sides, inserted and driven into the L-motion block guide groove 142; a driving block 160 which is connected respectively to an upper side and an lower side of the L-motion block 150 by way of at least more than one link 155; a tensile elasticity unit 170, at least more than one of which are installed between the L-motion block 150 and the driving block 160; and an upward and downward driving unit 180 which is configured to drive the driving block 160 upward and downward.
In addition, the gate valve has feature wherein there are further provided an lower side protrusion 161 which is formed at an lower side of the driving block 160 and is configured to contact-support an lower surface of the L-motion block 150 in a closed state; and a driving block guide 160 which is installed in the driving block 166 and is engaged to a driving block guide rail 165 installed at an inner side of the guide housing 140 and is configured to allow the driving block 160 to move only in upward and downward directions.
In addition, the gate valve has feature wherein the tensile elasticity unit 170 comprises a first spring pin 154 installed in a spring pin through hole 153 formed in at least two portions of the upper side and the lower side of the L-motion block 150; a second spring pin 164 installed in a spring pin engaging hole 163 formed in at least two portions of the upper side and the lower side of the driving block 160; and a spring 171 installed at both ends of the first spring pin 154 and at both ends of the second spring pin 164, wherein a curved portion “r” having a curvature, which connects the upward and downward driving section groove 143 and the opening and closing driving section groove 144, is formed on an outer circumferential surface of the section.
In addition, the gate valve has feature wherein the upward and downward driving unit 180 comprises a piston 182 which is installed in the interior of the cylinder 181, moving upwards and downwards by means of pneumatic, and on the upper side of which a driving rod 183 which is connected to the driving block 160.
The present invention has advantages that only one driving unit is provided, thus obtaining a reliable structure, and although either a closing operation may be performed in such a way that the valve plate is moved from an opening position to an intermediate portion in a vertical direction, and then from its intermediate position to a closing position in a horizontal direction which is vertical with respect to the vertical direction, or an opening operation may be performed in the sequence reverse to the above mentioned sequence, it is possible to prevent any interference with a variety of components installed in the interior of the gate valve and prevent the impurities produced due to mechanical abrasion from inflowing in the process chamber, thus obtaining efficient operations.
a and 1b are schematic views illustrating a comparison of an operative passageway of a related gate valve.
a, 4b and 4c are side, cross sectional views illustrating the side and cross-sectional views of each portion of a gate valve according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
a, 6b, 6c and 6d are procedural views of a gate valve according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
a and 7b are perspective views illustrating an operation procedure and a closed state of a driving block and an L-motion block of a gate valve according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
The gate valve according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, it is noted that the same components or parts will be given the same reference numbers. In the course of the description of the present invention, the detailed descriptions on the related functions or construction will be omitted in order to prevent the subject matters of the present invention from becoming ambiguous.
The gate valve according to the present invention, as illustrated in
Firstly, the valve blade 120 will be described. The valve blade, as illustrated in
Next, the valve rod 130 will be described. The valve rod 130, as illustrated in
Next, the guide housing 140 will be described. The guide housing 140, as illustrated in
Meanwhile, the exemplary embodiment for constituting the guide housing 140 may be performed by way of a variety of embodiments including an integrated formation, etc.; however as illustrated in
Next, the L-motion block 150 will be described. The L-motion block 150, as illustrated in
Next, the driving block 160 will be described. The driving block 160, as illustrated in
In this case, as a way of constituting the link 155, there may be a variety of exemplary embodiments. As for an exemplary embodiment of the link 155 as illustrated in
In addition, during the opening operation a strong tensile force may be generated by the link 155 between the L-motion block 150 and the driving block 155, which may cause operational error because the driving block 160 moves in the direction of the L-motion block 150, so an error may occur during the operation. In order to prevent such an error, as illustrated in
Next, the tensile elasticity unit 170 will be described. At least one tensile elasticity unit 170, as illustrated in
In this case, as a way for constituting the tensile elasticity unit 170, there are a variety of embodiments. According to an example for constituting the tensile elasticity unit 170, as illustrated in
Next, the upward and downward driving unit 180 will be described. Here, the upward and downward driving unit 180 may be driven in upward and downward directions. As a way for constituting the upward and downward driving unit 180, there may be a variety of embodiments.
As an exemplary embodiment for constituting the upward and downward driving unit 180, as illustrated in
The operations of the gate valve 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described.
The closing procedure of the gate valve 100 will be first described.
The closing procedure starts in the fully opened state as illustrated in
Next, as illustrated in
By means of the more ascending operation of the driving block 160, the L-motion block 150, as illustrated in
Throughout the above-described whole closing operations, the L-motion block 150, as illustrated in
Meanwhile, the opening procedure of the gate valve 100 may be performed in a reverse sequence to the closing procedure of the gate valve 100. In this case, with the aid of the tensile elasticity unit 170, the L-motion block 150 may be more reliably moved in the direction of the driving block 160 by means of the descending operation of the driving block 160 in the starting stage of the opening procedure.
Preferred embodiments have been disclosed in the drawings and specification. Specific terms have been used herein. However, the specific terms have been used not to limit meanings or the scope of the present invention disclosed in claims, but to merely describe the present invention. Accordingly, those skilled in the art may understand that various modifications and changes may be made thereto. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be defined by the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2012-0035931 | Apr 2012 | KR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/KR2013/002915 | 4/8/2013 | WO | 00 |
