The present invention relates to a manual valve device and a fluid control system in which fluid devices including this valve device are integrated.
As a fluid control system used to supply various process gases to a chamber of a semiconductor manufacturing system or the like, for example, there have been known, for example, the system disclosed in Patent Document 1 below, and the like.
In the field of a fluid control system such as described above, higher responsiveness is required to control the supply of the process gases and, to this end, advances have been made in miniaturization and integration of the fluid control system to the extent possible.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-206700
Incidentally, a fluid control system such as described above includes a manual valve that is not normally used, but is used in an emergency or when fully shutting down the system. Such a manual valve includes a handle or a lever for manual operation and therefore, when these components are miniaturized in accordance with miniaturization of fluid devices such as other automatic valve devices, manual operation becomes difficult, resulting in the problem of difficulties in miniaturization.
Further, in order to prevent unintentional operation of the manual valve, it is necessary to provide a protective frame, a cap, a cover, or the like, on the handle or the lever for manual operation, and to provide an indicator indicating the opened or closed state, causing further difficulties in miniaturization.
An object of the present invention is to provide a manual valve device suitable for a miniaturized and integrated fluid control system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a miniaturized and integrated fluid control system that includes the manual valve device described above.
A manual valve device according to a first aspect of the present invention for achieving the above-described object is a manual valve device including a valve body that has a block shape, defines a bottom surface and a top surface opposing each other, and defines a fluid flow path, a valve element provided to be capable of opening and closing the flow path of the valve body, a drive mechanism that drives the valve element in an opening and closing direction, a casing that has a tubular shape, is connected to the valve body, extends upward from the top surface of the valve body, and incorporates the drive mechanism, an operation member for activating the drive mechanism, and a cam part that converts a force acting on the operation member into a driving force of the drive mechanism, and the manual valve comprises: a protective cover provided on an upper end side of the casing and covering at least a portion of the operation member, and the operation member includes an attaching part that allows removable attaching of an auxiliary tool for causing a force required for activation of the drive mechanism to act on the operation member, and the protective cover is formed so as to allow access to and operation of the attaching part of the operation member by the tool.
Preferably, a configuration can be adopted in which the operation member and the protective cover are formed so as to fall within an outer shape of the casing in a top view. More preferably, a configuration can be adopted in which the attaching part is formed into a concave shape.
Preferably, a configuration can be adopted in which the operation member is held rotatably about a central axis line of the casing, the protective cover covers an outer periphery of the operation member, and the attaching part is formed on an upper end surface of the operation member.
More preferably, a configuration can be adopted in which the drive mechanism includes a movable rod held movably in a direction that opens and closes the valve element and a roller member that is movable on a cam surface formed on the cam part and is rotatably held by the movable rod, and the cam surface includes a locking part that locks the roller member and holds the operation member in an opened position and a closed position.
Preferably, a configuration can be adopted in which the operation member is maintained with a portion of an upper end portion thereof protruding from the protective member when the flow path is opened or closed, and is maintained entirely housed in an interior of the protective member when the flow path is closed or opened from an opened state or a closed state.
Further, a manual valve device according to a second aspect of the present invention for achieving the above-described object is a manual valve device including a valve body that has a block shape, defines a bottom surface and a top surface opposing each other, and defines a fluid flow path, a valve element provided to be capable of opening and closing the flow path of the valve body, a drive mechanism that drives the valve element in an opening and closing direction, a casing that has a tubular shape, is connected to the valve body, and extends upward from the top surface of the valve body, an operation member for activating the drive mechanism, and a cam part that converts a tilting force acting on the operation member into a driving force of the drive mechanism, and comprises: a protective cover provided on an upper end side of the casing and covering at least a portion of the operation member, and the operation member includes an attaching part that allows removable attaching of an auxiliary lever for causing a tilting force required for activation of the drive mechanism to act on the operation member, and the protective cover is formed so as to allow access to the attaching part of the operation member by the auxiliary lever.
Preferably, a configuration can be adopted in which the attaching part is formed into a concave shape.
Preferably, a configuration can be adopted in which the drive mechanism includes a movable rod held movably in a direction that opens and closes the valve element and the operation member is coupled to the movable rod tiltably about a predetermined axis line, and the cam part includes a cam surface formed on the operation member, and a receiving surface that engages with the cam surface and receives a tilting force acting on the operation member.
More preferably, a configuration can be adopted in which a receiving member having the receiving surface includes a through hole that allows the movable rod to pass therethrough, and is held by the casing in the protective cover. Further, more preferably, a configuration can be adopted in which the receiving member having the receiving surface includes a through hole that allows the movable rod to pass therethrough, and is held by the casing in the protective cover.
A fluid control system of the present invention is a fluid control system comprising a plurality of fluid devices, and the fluid devices include the manual valve device having the above-described configuration.
According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a manual valve device suitable for a miniaturized and integrated fluid control system, and reliably prevent unintentional operation of the manual valve device.
Embodiments of a first aspect and a second aspect of the present invention are described below with reference to the drawings.
First, an example of a fluid control system to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to
The fluid control system illustrated in
Here, the “fluid device” is a device used in a fluid control system for controlling a flow of a fluid, and including a body defining a fluid flow path, and at least two flow path ports that open on a surface of this body. Specifically, the fluid device includes the switch valve (two-way valve) 210A, the regulator 210B, the pressure gauge 210C, the switch valve (three-way valve) 210D, the mass flow controller 210E, and the like, but is not necessarily limited thereto. It should be noted that an introducing pipe 310 is connected to each of the flow path ports of the flow path (not illustrated) described above on the upstream side.
When the fluid device is miniaturized and integrated, the fluid device is formed to have smaller width overall, as understood from
The manual valve device of the present invention can be applied in a position of the switch valve 210A, for example.
Next, a manual valve device according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention is described with reference to
A manual valve device 1 includes a valve body 20, a diaphragm 40 serving as a valve element, a drive mechanism 50, a casing 70 incorporating the drive mechanism 50, a protective cover 100, and an operation member 110.
The valve body 20 defines a top surface 20a and a bottom surface 20b opposing each other, and flow paths 21, 22 of a gas or the like that include openings 21a, 22a on bottom surface 20b. The flow paths 21, 22 are connected with other flow path members via a seal member (not illustrated). Through holes 23, 24 passing from the top surface 20a to the bottom surface 20b are formed in the valve body 20. These through holes 23, 24 are holes for a tightening bolt for fixing the valve body 20 on the flow path block 200 described above.
A valve seat 30 is provided around the flow path 21 of the valve body 20. The valve seat 30 is formed from a resin such as a perfluoroalkoxyalkane (PFA) or a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) in an elastically deformable manner.
The diaphragm 40 functions as a valve element, has a diameter larger than the valve seat 30, and is formed in an elastically deformable manner into a spherical-shell shape by a metal such as stainless steel or an NiCo-based alloy, or a fluorine-based resin. The diaphragm 40 is pressed toward the valve body 20 by a lower end surface of a casing member 71 via a pressing adapter 42, and thereby supported by the valve body 20 so as to allow contact with and separation from the valve seat 30. In
The casing 70 is configured by casing members 71, 72 formed into a cylindrical shape and connected to each other, and is fixed to the valve body 20 by screwing a lower end portion of the casing member 71 to an upper side of the valve body 20.
The drive mechanism 50 includes the diaphragm presser 51, a movable rod 52, and a coil spring 54. The diaphragm presser 51 and the movable rod 52 are held in the casing 70 so as to be movable in the upward and downward directions A1, A2, and the movable rod 52 is restricted in movement in the downward direction A2 by a flange part 52b formed in a middle thereof coming into contact with an upper end surface of the casing member 71.
The coil spring 54 is interposed between the flange part 52b of the movable rod 52 and the casing member 72, and continually urges the movable rod 52 in the downward direction A2 by a restoring force. The manual valve device 1 is a normally-closed valve in which the flow path 21 is normally closed by the diaphragm 40.
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
Here,
As illustrated in
In a closed state such as illustrated in
In order to change from this state to the opened state illustrated in
In this way, the opened or closed state of the manual valve device 1 can be determined from the position of the operation member 110 with regards to the protective cover 100.
Next, the manual valve device according to an embodiment (Embodiment 2) of the second aspect of the present invention is described with reference to
In the manual valve according to Embodiment 2, as illustrated in
Further, as illustrated in
When the upper end portion of the movable rod 52 is inserted between the two opposing wall parts 210b of the operation member 210 and the pin 90 is inserted into the pin hole 52a and the pin hole 210h, the operation member 210 is tiltably held relative to the movable rod 52 about the pin 90. It should be noted that, when a protective cover 400 formed into a cylindrical shape is inserted into and fixed to an upper end portion of a casing member 73 illustrated in
Further, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
The protective cover 400 is a member having a cylindrical shape as described above, and includes protective wall parts 200b opposing each other at an upper end portion. The operation member 210 is disposed so that a most part thereof is sandwiched between the protective wall parts 200b, and the protective wall parts 200b prevent an object or the like from unexpectedly colliding with the operation member 210.
Here,
In a closed state such as illustrated in
In the present embodiment, the opened or closed state of the valve can be determined based on the posture of the operation member 210. However, the ability to visually check the opened or closed state of the valve is improved by provision of indicators indicating opened and closed on a surface of the protruding part 180a of the receiving member 180.
While a case in which the cam surface of the cam part is formed on the operation member and the receiving surface is formed on the receiving member is illustrated in the above-described embodiment, it is possible to form the cam surface on the receiving member side, and the receiving surface on the operation member side.
As described above, according to the present invention, a manual valve device preferable for application to a fluid control system in which fluid devices are miniaturized and integrated can be obtained.
While a normally-closed type manual valve device is illustrated in the above-described Embodiments 1 and 2 of the present invention, the present invention is not necessarily limited thereto and can be applied to a normally-open type manual valve device as well.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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JP2017-189432 | Sep 2017 | JP | national |
JP2017-189554 | Sep 2017 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2018/032708 | 9/4/2018 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2019/065117 | 4/4/2019 | WO | A |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
106051187 | Oct 2016 | CN |
616251 | Jul 1935 | DE |
1580379 | Sep 1969 | FR |
S61-123865 | Sep 1986 | JP |
H3-80163 | Aug 1991 | JP |
H08-42742 | Feb 1996 | JP |
H11-311365 | Nov 1999 | JP |
2001-146977 | May 2001 | JP |
2002-206700 | Jul 2002 | JP |
2004-169810 | Jun 2004 | JP |
2009-68664 | Apr 2009 | JP |
Entry |
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FR1580379A , Espacenet Machine Translation, 1968 (Year: 1968). |
JPH0842742A, Espacenet Machine Translation, 1996 (Year: 1996). |
JP2004169810A, PE2E Search Machine Translation, 2004 (Year: 2004). |
International Search Report issued in International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2018/032708, dated Nov. 20, 2018, English translation. |
International Preliminary Report on Patentability issued in International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2018/032708, dated Mar. 31, 2020, English translation. |
Office Action issued in China Patent Application No. 201880063249.3, dated Dec. 9, 2021 (with English translation). |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20200278046 A1 | Sep 2020 | US |