A cylinder

Abstract

An embodiment of the present application discloses a cylinder, which includes: a housing; a piston structure slidably disposed inside the housing for dividing the interior of the housing into a first cavity and a second cavity; a gas guiding structure for communicating the first cavity with an external gas source device and adjusting the gas pressure in the first cavity; a magnetic structure located inside the housing; wherein, the magnetic structure includes: a first magnetic block and a second magnetic block respectively fixedly disposed on two opposite sides inside the housing, and a third magnetic block fixedly disposed in the piston structure; the third magnetic block repels the first magnetic block and attracts the second magnetic block respectively.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of the present application relate to, but are not limited to, the field of particle counting technology, and particularly to a cylinder. Background Art

[0002] In a particle counter, a cylinder part is usually used to switch between the oblique incidence mode and the direct incidence mode of incident light. In related technologies, the cylinder actuates by using a spring and vacuum. Since the spring is prone to elastic fatigue after long-term use, it is likely that the push rod cannot be moved to the proper position, resulting in the particle counter being unable to perform the mode switch normally. In addition, because the structure of the particle counter machine is complex and the operation space is small, it takes 8 to 10 hours to replace the cylinder each time, consuming a large amount of time cost. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the cylinder to reduce the probability of the particle counter malfunctioning due to spring failure. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In view of this, the embodiments of the present application provide a cylinder.

[0004] The technical solution of the embodiments of the present application is realized as follows:

[0005] The embodiments of the present application provide a cylinder, which includes:

[0006] A housing;

[0007] A piston structure slidably disposed inside the housing, for dividing the interior of the housing into a first cavity and a second cavity;

[0008] An air guiding structure, for communicating the first cavity with an external gas source device and adjusting the gas pressure in the first cavity;

[0009] A magnetic structure located inside the housing;

[0010] Wherein, the magnetic structure includes: a first magnetic block and a second magnetic block respectively fixedly disposed on two opposite sides inside the housing, and a third magnetic block fixedly disposed in the piston structure;

[0011] The third magnetic block repels the first magnetic block and attracts the second magnetic block respectively.

[0012] The cylinder provided by the embodiments of the present application actuates by using the magnetic structure and vacuum to realize the reciprocating motion of the piston in the cylinder. Since the magnetism of the magnets in the magnetic structure is relatively stable and will not cause magnetic failure due to long-term use, the problem that the piston in the cylinder cannot be pushed and pulled to the proper position due to elastic fatigue of the spring when using the spring and vacuum for actuation in related technologies can be solved, and the probability of the cylinder malfunctioning can be effectively reduced. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0013] Figure 1A Schematic diagram of the structure of the cylinder when the light incident mode of the particle counter in the related art is switched to the direct incidence mode;

[0014] Figure 1B Schematic diagram of the structure of the cylinder when the light incident mode of the particle counter in the related art is switched to the oblique incidence mode;

[0015] Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the composition structure of the cylinder provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0016] Figure 3A Schematic diagram when the cylinder piston structure provided by the embodiment of the present application moves to the first position;

[0017] Figure 3B Schematic diagram when the cylinder piston structure provided by the embodiment of the present application moves to the second position;

[0018] Figure 4 Schematic diagram of the composition structure of the cylinder provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0019] Figure 5A Schematic diagram of the structure of the cylinder provided by the embodiment of the present application in the direct incidence mode;

[0020] Figure 5B Schematic diagram of the structure of the cylinder provided by the embodiment of the present application in the oblique incidence mode. Detailed implementation manners

[0021] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present application clearer, the technical solutions of the present application will be further elaborated in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. The described embodiments should not be regarded as limitations on the present application. All other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts fall within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0022] In the following description, reference is made to "some embodiments", which describe a subset of all possible embodiments. However, it can be understood that "some embodiments" can be the same subset or different subsets of all possible embodiments, and can be combined with each other without conflict.

[0023] If similar descriptions such as "first / second" appear in the application documents, the following explanation is added. In the following description, the terms "first\second\third" involved are only used to distinguish similar objects and do not represent a specific order for the objects. It can be understood that "first\second\third" can be interchanged with a specific order or sequence when permitted, so that the embodiments of the present application described here can be implemented in an order other than that illustrated or described here.

[0024] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the technical field to which this application belongs. The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing embodiments of this application only and are not intended to limit this application.

[0025] To better understand the technical solution of this application, first, the composition structure of the cylinder part of the particle counter in the related art and the process of using the cylinder part to switch between the direct incidence mode and the oblique incidence mode of the incident light will be described.

[0026] In the related art, the function of the cylinder is to reciprocally pull the mirror connected to one end of the push rod of the cylinder to control whether the incident light can irradiate on the mirror, so as to achieve the function of adjusting the angle of the incident light. When the particle counter works, the light incident mode can be divided into two modes: the direct incidence mode and the oblique incidence mode according to the angle of the incident light. The principle of switching between the direct incidence mode and the oblique incidence mode of the incident light in the particle counter is: by adjusting the position of the mirror, thereby controlling whether the incident light can irradiate on the mirror. When the incident light does not irradiate on the mirror, the incident light angle is direct; when the incident light irradiates on the mirror, the incident light angle is changed to oblique.

[0027] In the related art, the cylinder uses a spring and vacuum to actuate, controlling the piston to drive the push rod and the mirror to move. Figure 1A The structural schematic diagram of the cylinder when the light incident mode of the particle counter is switched to the direct incidence mode is shown in Figure 1A As shown, the first cavity 11 in the cylinder is in a vacuum state, and the gas pressure in the second cavity 12 pushes the piston 20 to drive the push rod 30 to move towards the first cavity 11 side, so that the mirror 40 fixedly arranged on the push rod 30 moves to the first target position to avoid light reflection, thereby switching the light incident mode of the particle counter to the direct incidence mode.

[0028] Figure 1B The structural schematic diagram of the cylinder when the light incident mode of the particle counter is switched to the oblique incidence mode is shown in Figure 1B As shown, the first cavity 11 in the cylinder is in a non-vacuum state, and the piston 20 moves towards the second cavity ( Figure 1B not shown in the figure) side under the elastic force of the spring and drives the push rod 30 to move, so that the mirror 40 fixedly arranged on the push rod 30 moves to the second target position for light reflection, thereby switching the light incident mode of the particle counter to the oblique incidence mode.

[0029] The embodiments of this application provide a cylinder, Figure 2 The structural schematic diagram of the cylinder in the embodiments of this application is shown in Figure 2 As shown, the cylinder includes: a housing 110, a piston structure 120 slidably arranged inside the housing 110, and a gas guiding structure (Figure 2 a magnetic structure 130 located inside the housing 110 (not shown in the figure); wherein:

[0030] The piston structure 120 is configured to divide the interior of the housing 110 into a first cavity 111 and a second cavity 112;

[0031] The air guiding structure is configured to connect the first cavity 111 with an external air source device and adjust the gas pressure in the first cavity 111;

[0032] The magnetic structure 130 includes: a first magnetic block 131 and a second magnetic block 132 respectively fixedly arranged on two opposite sides inside the housing 110, and a third magnetic block fixedly arranged in the piston structure 120 ( Figure 2 not shown in the figure);

[0033] The third magnetic block repels the first magnetic block 131 and attracts the second magnetic block 132.

[0034] In implementation, the housing 110 and the piston structure 120 can be made of any suitable airtight material. The piston structure 120 is slidably arranged inside the housing 110 and can slide inside the housing 110 under force.

[0035] The air guiding structure connects the first cavity 111 with an external air source device. The external air source device can extract gas from the first cavity 111 or fill gas into the first cavity 111 through the air guiding structure to adjust the gas pressure in the first cavity 111. In some embodiments, the external air source device can extract all the gas in the first cavity 111 through the air guiding structure, so that the first cavity 111 is in a vacuum state. In implementation, the air guiding structure can be any structure capable of gas transmission. In some embodiments, the air guiding structure can be an air duct.

[0036] The first magnetic block 131, the second magnetic block 132, and the third magnetic block can be permanent magnets or electromagnets. Those skilled in the art can freely choose according to the actual situation during implementation, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0037] In some embodiments, the first magnetic block 131, the second magnetic block 132, and the third magnetic block are all permanent magnets; wherein, the magnetic poles of the first magnetic block 131 are arranged opposite to those of the third magnetic block to provide a repulsive force; the magnetic poles of the second magnetic block 132 are arranged the same as those of the third magnetic block to provide an attractive force. In this way, in the absence of external force, the piston structure 120 will move towards the second cavity side due to the attractive force between the third magnetic block and the first magnetic block 131, and the repulsive force between the third magnetic block and the second magnetic block 132.

[0038] In some embodiments, the air guiding structure is configured to: adjust the first cavity 111 to a vacuum state through the external air source device, so as to use the gas pressure in the second cavity 112 to push the piston structure 120 to move towards the first cavity 111 side to a first position, such that the volume of the first cavity 111 is compressed to the minimum.

[0039] In some embodiments, the first position may be the position where the piston structure is located when the volume of the first cavity 111 is compressed to zero. As Figure 3A shown, at this time, the piston structure 120 is pushed by the gas pressure in the second cavity 112 and moves to the first position where the volume of the first cavity 111 is compressed to the minimum.

[0040] In some embodiments, the air guiding structure is further configured to: adjust the first cavity 111 to a non-vacuum state through the external air source device, so as to use the repulsive force between the first magnet 131 and the third magnet and the attractive force between the second magnet 132 and the third magnet to push the piston structure 120 to move towards the second cavity 112 side to a second position, such that the volume of the second cavity 112 is compressed to the minimum.

[0041] In some embodiments, the second position may be the position where the piston structure is located when the volume of the second cavity 112 is compressed to zero. As Figure 3B shown, at this time, the piston structure 120 is pushed by the repulsive force between the first magnet 131 and the third magnet and the attractive force between the second magnet 132 and the third magnet and moves to the second position where the volume of the second cavity 112 is compressed to the minimum.

[0042] The cylinder provided by the embodiments of the present application uses a magnetic structure and a vacuum for actuation to realize the reciprocating movement of the piston in the cylinder. Since the magnetism of the magnet in the magnetic structure is relatively stable and will not cause magnetic failure due to long-term use, it can solve the problem in the related art that when using a spring and a vacuum for actuation, the piston in the cylinder cannot be pushed and pulled in place due to elastic fatigue of the spring after long-term use, and can effectively reduce the probability of the cylinder malfunctioning.

[0043] The embodiments of the present application provide a cylinder, Figure 4 which is a schematic diagram of the composition structure of the cylinder according to the embodiments of the present application. As Figure 4 shown, the cylinder includes: a housing 110, a piston structure 120 slidably disposed inside the housing, an air guiding structure ( Figure 4 not shown in the figure), a magnetic structure 130 located inside the housing, a push rod 140, and a mirror 150 fixedly disposed on the push rod 140; wherein:

[0044] The piston structure 120 is used to divide the interior of the housing 110 into a first cavity 111 and a second cavity 112;

[0045] The air guiding structure is used to connect the first cavity 111 with an external air source device and adjust the gas pressure in the first cavity 111;

[0046] The magnetic structure 130 includes: a first magnetic block 131 and a second magnetic block 132 respectively fixedly arranged on two opposite sides inside the housing 110, and a third magnetic block fixedly arranged in the piston structure 120 ( Figure 4 not shown in the figure);

[0047] The third magnetic block repels the first magnetic block 131 and attracts the second magnetic block 132;

[0048] One end of the push rod 140 is connected to the piston structure 120 and penetrates through the second cavity 112, and the other end is connected to a reflector 150;

[0049] The reflector 150 is used for: when light irradiates on the reflector 150, adjusting the light angle;

[0050] When the piston structure 120 moves, the push rod 140 is subjected to the thrust generated by the movement of the piston structure 120, and pushes the reflector 150 to move to a target position to control the reflector 150 to adjust the light angle.

[0051] Here, the piston structure 120 actuates by using the magnetic force of the magnetic structure 130 and the gas pressure difference between the first cavity 111 and the second cavity 112. The principle of the movement of the piston structure 120 can be referred to the description in the foregoing embodiments and will not be elaborated here.

[0052] In implementation, the reflector 150 can be a plane reflector or a curved reflector. Those skilled in the art can select a suitable reflector according to the actual situation during implementation, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0053] In some embodiments, the cylinder is applied to a particle counter and is used for: switching the light incident mode of the particle counter by using the magnetic force of the magnetic structure 130 or the gas pressure in the second cavity 112.

[0054] Here, the light incident mode may include a direct incidence mode and an oblique incidence mode. When the light incident mode is the direct incidence mode, the incident light perpendicularly irradiates the object to be detected. The reflected light reflected by the object to be detected can be collected, and the number of particles existing on the object to be detected can be determined by detecting the difference between the incident light intensity and the reflected light intensity. When the light incident mode is the oblique incidence mode, the incident light obliquely irradiates the object to be detected. The light scattered by the particles existing on the object to be detected can be collected, and the number of particles existing on the object to be detected can be determined by detecting the intensity of the collected scattered light of the particles.

[0055] In some embodiments, the particle counter is used to detect the number of particles on a wafer. The oblique incidence mode is a mode of determining the number of particles on the wafer to be detected by detecting the intensity of the scattered light of the particles in the photosensitive area; the direct incidence mode is a mode of determining the number of particles on the wafer to be detected by detecting the difference between the incident light intensity and the reflected light intensity in the photosensitive area.

[0056] In some embodiments, the cylinder is configured to: when the piston structure 120 moves to the first position, the push rod 140 pushes the mirror 150 to the third position to avoid light reflection, so that the light incident mode of the particle counter is switched to the direct incidence mode; when the piston structure 120 moves to the second position, the push rod 140 pushes the mirror 150 to the fourth position to perform light reflection, so that the light incident mode of the particle counter is switched to the oblique incidence mode. Here, the third position is the position of the mirror when the incident light cannot irradiate the mirror. The mirror can avoid light reflection at the third position. The fourth position is the position of the mirror when the incident light can irradiate the mirror. The mirror can perform light reflection at the fourth position. In implementation, those skilled in the art can determine appropriate third and fourth positions according to actual situations, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0057] Figure 5A FIG. is a schematic structural diagram of the cylinder in the direct incidence mode in the embodiment of the present application, as Figure 5A shown. At this time, the piston structure 120 is pushed by the gas pressure in the second cavity 112 and moves to the first position where the volume of the first cavity 111 is compressed to the minimum, and drives the push rod 140 to push the mirror 150 to move to the third position where light reflection can be avoided.

[0058] Figure 5B FIG. is a schematic structural diagram of the cylinder in the oblique incidence mode in the embodiment of the present application, as Figure 5BAs shown, at this time, the piston structure 120 is subject to the repulsive force between the first magnet 131 and the third magnet and the attractive force between the second magnet 132 and the third magnet, and moves to the second position where the volume of the second cavity 112 is compressed to the minimum, and drives the push rod 140 to push the mirror 150 to move to the fourth position where light can be reflected.

[0059] The cylinder provided by the embodiment of the present application uses a magnetic structure and a vacuum to actuate, realizes the reciprocating movement of the piston in the cylinder, and drives the push rod to push the mirror to move to different positions to adjust the light angle. Since the magnetism of the magnet in the magnetic structure is relatively stable and will not cause the magnetic force to fail due to long-term use, the probability of the cylinder malfunctioning can be effectively reduced. Further, the cylinder can be applied to a particle counter. By pushing the mirror to move to different positions to switch the light incident mode, the probability of the particle counter being unable to work normally due to cylinder failure can be effectively reduced, and the working stability of the particle counter can be improved.

[0060] It should be understood that the "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" mentioned throughout the specification means that the specific features, structures or characteristics related to the embodiment are included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Therefore, the "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" that appears throughout the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, these specific features, structures or characteristics can be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. It should be understood that in various embodiments of the present application, the magnitudes of the serial numbers of the above processes do not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application. The serial numbers of the embodiments of the present application are only for description and do not represent the advantages or disadvantages of the embodiments.

[0061] It should be noted that in this article, the term "comprising", "including" or any other variant thereof is intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements not only includes those elements, but also includes other elements not expressly listed, or further includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "including a..." does not exclude the presence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the element.

[0062] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. The device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components can be combined, or can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored, or not executed. In addition, the coupling, direct coupling, or communication connection between the various components shown or discussed can be through some interfaces. The indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units can be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0063] The units described above as separate components may or may not be physically separated. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units. They can be located in one place or distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0064] In addition, each functional unit in the embodiments of the present application can be all integrated in a processing unit, or each unit can be separately used as a unit, or two or more units can be integrated in a unit. The above integrated units can be implemented in the form of hardware, or in the form of hardware plus software functional units.

[0065] The above is only the implementation manner of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present application can easily think of changes or substitutions, which should be covered by the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A cylinder, characterized in that, The cylinder includes: A housing; A piston structure slidably disposed inside the housing for dividing the interior of the housing into a first cavity and a second cavity; An air guiding structure for connecting the first cavity to an external gas source device and adjusting the gas pressure in the first cavity; the air guiding structure is an air duct; A magnetic structure located inside the housing; Wherein, the magnetic structure includes: a first magnetic block and a second magnetic block respectively fixedly disposed on two opposite sides inside the housing, and a third magnetic block fixedly disposed in the piston structure; the first magnetic block, the second magnetic block, and the third magnetic block are all permanent magnets; the third magnetic block repels the first magnetic block and attracts the second magnetic block; The cylinder further includes: a push rod and a mirror fixedly disposed on the push rod, one end of the push rod is connected to the piston structure and penetrates through the second cavity, and the other end is connected to the mirror; when the piston structure moves, the push rod is pushed by the thrust generated by the movement of the piston structure to move the mirror to a target position to control the mirror to adjust the light angle.

2. The cylinder according to claim 1, characterized in that, The magnetic poles of the first magnetic block are arranged opposite to those of the third magnetic block to provide a repulsive force; The magnetic poles of the second magnetic block are arranged the same as those of the third magnetic block to provide an attractive force.

3. The cylinder according to claim 2, characterized in that, The air guiding structure is used for: Adjusting the first cavity to a vacuum state through the external gas source device to use the gas pressure in the second cavity to push the piston structure to move towards the first cavity side to a first position, so that the volume of the first cavity is compressed to the minimum.

4. The cylinder according to claim 3, characterized in that The air guiding structure is further used for: Adjusting the first cavity to a non-vacuum state through the external gas source device to use the repulsive force between the first magnetic block and the third magnetic block and the attractive force between the second magnetic block and the third magnetic block to push the piston structure to move towards the second cavity side to a second position, so that the volume of the second cavity is compressed to the minimum.

5. The cylinder according to claim 4, wherein The cylinder is applied to a particle counter for: Switching the light incident mode of the particle counter by using the magnetic force of the magnetic structure or the gas pressure in the second cavity.

6. The cylinder according to claim 5, wherein The light incident modes include a direct incidence mode and an oblique incidence mode; Wherein, the oblique incidence mode is a method of determining the number of particles on a wafer to be detected by detecting the scattered light intensity of particles in the photosensitive area; The direct incidence mode is a method of determining the number of particles on the wafer to be detected by detecting the difference between the incident light intensity and the reflected light intensity in the photosensitive area.

7. The cylinder according to claim 5, characterized in that, The cylinder is used for: When the piston structure moves to the first position, the push rod pushes the mirror to a third position to avoid light reflection, so that the light incident mode of the particle counter is switched to the direct incidence mode; When the piston structure moves to the second position, the push rod pushes the mirror to a fourth position to perform light reflection, so that the light incident mode of the particle counter is switched to the oblique incidence mode.

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