Accessible window and work booth using it

Abstract

To provide a hand insertion window where abrupt indoor environment change is hardly caused when inserting a hand and to provide a working booth using the same.SOLUTION: A hand insertion window 10 has a double seal member 20 closing an opening 5h penetrating a wall body 5 partitioning the inside and outside of a working booth and a fixing member 30 fixing the double seal member 20 to a wall surface. The double seal member 20 where a plurality of slits 23 are formed at an elastic sheet material 22 has an outer seal member 21A and an inner seal member 21B where a plurality of fin parts 24 are formed by the plurality of slits 23. One of the fin part 24 of the inner seal member 21B is overlapped to one of two fin parts 24, 24 adjacent to each other among the plurality of fin parts 24 of the outer seal member 21A and the slits 23 separating two fin parts 24, 24 in plan view.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a service window provided on a wall separating the inside and outside of a work booth, and to a work booth equipped with the same. [Background technology]

[0002] Materials and parts that need to be handled in a low dew point environment are generally handled in a work booth (clean bench) equipped with a access window. A low dew point environment is maintained by sending dry air into the semi-enclosed work booth.

[0003] Regarding a work booth equipped with a service window, for example, Patent Document 1 describes a cylindrical body having a substantially circular covering made of silicone resin or the like disposed inside the body, with eight slits formed in the covering to form eight fan-shaped sections. This covering elastically deforms when a worker's arm is inserted into the cylindrical body, but when the worker's arm is not inserted into the insertion opening of the cylindrical body, it serves to block air from passing between the work space and the outside.

[0004] Patent Document 2 also describes an operation hole device that allows a user to insert a hand through a rubber slit through a tube to manipulate a sample inside. In this operation hole device, the tube is sealed by a rubber slit that closes the tube, which is provided in a hole in a slider that can move left and right, and the inside and outside are sealed at the joint between the upper and lower membranes. When the user moves their hand left and right, a zipper part moves through the tube, and the zipper automatically opens and closes the membrane, allowing the tube to be operated while maintaining the seal. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2016-83591 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-30487 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The conventional access window described above has a structure in which the insertion opening is covered with a single rubber sheet with radial slits formed therein. This causes a problem in that when a hand is inserted, the slit widens, forming a large gap, allowing outside air to enter the work booth, which can cause sudden changes in the temperature and humidity inside the work booth.

[0007] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a service window that prevents the indoor environment from suddenly changing when a hand is placed inside, and a work booth using the same. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to solve the above problems, the maintenance window of the present invention is provided on a wall surface that separates the inside and outside of a work booth, and comprises a double seal member that blocks an opening that penetrates the wall surface, and a fixing member that fixes the double seal member to the wall surface, the double seal member being formed by a plurality of slits in an elastic sheet material, and comprising an outer seal member and an inner seal member in which a plurality of fin portions are formed by the plurality of slits, and one of the fin portions of the inner seal member overlaps in a planar view with two adjacent fin portions of the plurality of fin portions of the outer seal member and one of the slits that separates the two fin portions.

[0009] According to the present invention, the slit in the outer seal member, which expands when a hand is inserted, is blocked by the fin portion of the inner seal member, thereby blocking the inflow of outside air through the slit and increasing the airtightness inside the work booth.

[0010] In the present invention, it is preferable that the plurality of slits in the outer seal member and the inner seal member are provided radially from the center of the opening, and the plurality of slits formed in the outer seal member do not overlap the plurality of slits formed in the inner seal member in a plan view. With this configuration, the fin portion can be fitted around the entire circumference of the hand, thereby improving the airtightness inside the work booth.

[0011] In the present invention, the plurality of slits preferably comprise eight slits spaced at 45° intervals. Increasing the number of slits increases the flexibility of the fin portion, improving the shielding effect between indoors and outdoors when a hand is inserted, but the tips of the fin portion tend to curl, reducing the shielding effect when the hand is not inserted. However, this configuration not only improves the fit of the fin portion to the arm, but also prevents the tips of the fan-shaped fin portion from curling, improving the airtightness of the work booth.

[0012] In the present invention, the plurality of slits of the inner seal member are preferably offset by a half period from the plurality of slits of the outer seal member, thereby enabling the inner seal member to reliably close the radial slits of the outer seal member that expand when a hand is inserted.

[0013] In the present invention, it is preferable that the thickness of the inner seal member is thinner than that of the outer seal member, thereby increasing the flexibility of the inner seal member and enhancing its ability to close the slits in the outer seal member. In addition, by making the outer seal member relatively thicker, its durability can be increased.

[0014] In the present invention, a gap is preferably provided between the outer seal member and the inner seal member. In this case, the size of the gap is preferably 3 to 8 mm. This can prevent the outer seal member from sticking to the inner seal member, thereby improving the function of the inner seal member.

[0015] The work booth according to the present invention is characterized by comprising a processing chamber that provides an indoor environment different from the external environment, and a service window according to the present invention provided on a wall that separates the inside and outside of the processing chamber. [Effects of the Invention]

[0016] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a service window that prevents the indoor environment from suddenly changing when a hand is inserted, and a work booth using the same. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0017] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the configuration of a work booth according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic exploded perspective view showing the configuration of the access window according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the access window 10. [Figure 4] Figures 4(a) to (c) are plan views showing the slit patterns of the outer sealing member and the inner sealing member, where Figure 4(a) shows the slit pattern of the outer sealing member, Figure 4(b) shows the slit pattern of the inner sealing member, and Figure 4(c) shows both slit patterns superimposed on top of each other. [Figure 5] Figures 5(a) and (b) are schematic perspective views showing the maintenance window 10 in use, where Figure 5(a) is a view from inside the work booth and Figure 5(b) is a view from outside the work booth. [Figure 6] Figures 6(a) to (c) are diagrams showing the configuration of a service window according to a second embodiment of the present invention, where Figure 6(a) shows the slit pattern of the outer sealing member, Figure 6(b) shows the slit pattern of the inner sealing member, and Figure 6(c) shows the state in which both slit patterns are superimposed. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a graph showing the results of measuring the dew point inside the work booths according to Comparative Examples 1 and 2 and the example. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0019] FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the configuration of a work booth according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0020] As shown in Fig. 1, the work booth 1 according to this embodiment includes a base 2 having four legs and a box-shaped processing chamber 3 (glove box) provided on the base 2. The processing chamber 3 is connected to an air conditioner 9 via a duct 8, and dry air is sent in from the air conditioner 9 to Processing Room 3 The processing chamber 3 is maintained in a low-humidity environment. At least the front panel 5A of the processing chamber 3 is made of a transparent wall surface, and a pair of access windows 10 are arranged on the left and right sides of the wall surface. The access windows 10 have a double seal member that simply separates the inside and outside of the processing chamber 3, and are configured so that the opening is covered when no hands are inserted, but when a hand is inserted, the seal member elastically deforms to allow smooth insertion of the hand.

[0021] Fig. 2 is a schematic exploded perspective view showing the configuration of the access window 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the access window 10.

[0022] As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the access window 10 includes a double seal member 20 that closes a circular opening 5h that penetrates a transparent wall 5 made of an acrylic plate or the like, and a fixing member 30 that fixes the double seal member 20 to the wall 5. The double seal member 20 is composed of an outer seal member 21A and an inner seal member 21B. The fixing member 30 includes a ring-shaped outer frame member 31A that fixes the outer seal member 21A, a ring-shaped inner frame member 31B that fixes the inner seal member 21B, and a plurality of fastening devices made up of bolts 31C and nuts 31D that fasten the outer frame member 31A and the inner frame member 31B together. The outer seal member 21A closes the opening 5h from the outside of the wall 5, and the inner seal member 21B closes the opening 5h from the inside of the wall 5.

[0023] The outer seal member 21A and the inner seal member 21B are made of an elastic sheet material 22 such as silicone resin. The elastic sheet material 22 has multiple (eight in this example) slits 23 extending radially from its center at equal intervals (45° intervals), thereby forming multiple (eight in this example) fan-shaped fin portions 24. The center positions of the outer seal member 21A and the inner seal member 21B are defined as the positions that coincide with the center of the opening 5h when the outer seal member 21A and the inner seal member 21B are installed. The material of the outer seal member 21A and the inner seal member 21B is not limited to silicone resin; natural rubber, nitrile rubber, fluororubber, urethane rubber, butyl rubber, etc. may also be used. The elastic sheet material 22 may be made of the same material as the outer seal member 21A and the inner seal member 21B, or may be made of materials with different properties. When materials with different properties are selected, for example, natural rubber, nitrile rubber, or fluororubber may be used for the outer seal member 21A, and silicone resin may be used for the inner seal member 21B. However, when the elastic sheet material 22 is comprehensively judged taking into consideration the elasticity, flexibility, durability, solvent resistance, adhesiveness, etc. required for the elastic sheet material 22, silicone resin and natural rubber are preferred, with silicone resin being particularly preferred.

[0024] The thickness of the inner seal member 21B is preferably thinner than that of the outer seal member 21A. For example, the thickness T A The thickness T of the inner seal member 21B is 2 to 4 mm. B is 1 to 3 mm. The difference in thickness between the outer seal member 21A and the inner seal member 21B is preferably 0.5 mm or more and 3 mm or less. In this way, by making the inner seal member 21B slightly thinner than the outer seal member 21A, its flexibility can be increased, thereby improving its ability to close the slits 23 of the outer seal member 21A. Furthermore, by making the outer seal member 21A relatively thick, its durability can be increased.

[0025] The outer periphery of the outer seal member 21A is clamped and fixed between the outer wall surface of the ring-shaped outer frame member 31A and the wall body 5. Similarly, the outer periphery of the inner seal member 21B is clamped and fixed between the inner wall surface of the ring-shaped inner frame member 31B and the wall body 5. To prevent unintentional adhesion of the elastic sheet materials 22, 22 of the outer seal member 21A and the inner seal member 21B, a gap 25 is preferably provided between them, and the size of the gap 25 is preferably 3 to 8 mm, and more preferably 5 to 6 mm. In this embodiment, the wall body 5 is interposed between the outer seal member 21A and the inner seal member 21B to separate them.

[0026] Figures 4(a) to (c) are plan views showing the slit patterns of the outer seal member 21A and the inner seal member 21B, where Figure 4(a) shows the slit pattern of the outer seal member 21A, Figure 4(b) shows the slit pattern of the inner seal member 21B, and Figure 4(c) shows the state in which both slit patterns are superimposed.

[0027] 4(a) to 4(c), the outer seal member 21A and the inner seal member 21B have the same number of slits 23 and are formed at the same intervals, but their mounting orientations relative to the wall body 5 are different. When the reference orientation (0°) for the direction of formation of the slits 23 is defined as a direction vertically upward from the center of the opening 5h when the outer seal member 21A and the inner seal member 21B are installed, eight slits 23 are formed in the outer seal member 21A at 45° intervals from the 0° position, whereas eight slits 23 are formed in the inner seal member 21B at 45° intervals from the 22.5° position. In other words, the formation period of the slits 23 in the inner seal member 21B is shifted by half a period (22.5°) from the formation period (45°) of the slits 23 in the outer seal member 21A.

[0028] Because the outer seal member 21A and the inner seal member 21B have the above-described positional relationship, as shown in FIG. 4(c), one of the fin portions 24 of the inner seal member 21B overlaps with two adjacent fin portions 24, 24 of the outer seal member 21A and one of the slits 23 separating the two fin portions 24, 24 in a plan view. Furthermore, each of the slits 23 of the outer seal member 21A is located at the center in the width direction (circumferential direction) of one of the fin portions 24 of the inner seal member 21B. By shifting the formation period of the slits 23 of the outer seal member 21A and the inner seal member 21B by half a period in this manner, as shown in FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b), the slits 23A of the outer seal member 21A can be reliably blocked by the fin portion 24B of the inner seal member 21B, and conversely, the slits 23B of the inner seal member 21B can be reliably blocked by the fin portion 24A of the outer seal member 21A. This allows the gap that occurs when the arm 40 is inserted into the access window 10 to be closed as much as possible, thereby improving the airtightness of the processing chamber 3.

[0029] As described above, the access window 10 according to this embodiment includes the outer seal member 21A and the inner seal member 21B that close the opening 5h provided in the wall 5, and the fin portion 24 of the inner seal member 21B overlaps in plan view with the two adjacent fin portions 24, 24 of the outer seal member 21A and the slit 23 that separates the two fin portions 24, 24, so that the slit 23 of the outer seal member 21A that widens when a hand is inserted can be closed with the fin portion 24 of the inner seal member 21B. This prevents outside air from entering through the slit 23, improving the airtightness of the work booth 1.

[0030] Figures 6(a) to (c) are diagrams showing the configuration of a service window according to a second embodiment of the present invention, where Figure 6(a) shows the slit pattern of the outer sealing member 21A, Figure 6(b) shows the slit pattern of the inner sealing member 21B, and Figure 6(c) shows the state in which both slit patterns are superimposed.

[0031] As shown in FIGS. 6(a) to 6(c), the access window 10 according to this embodiment is characterized in that the slits are formed in the vertical and horizontal directions rather than radially, thereby forming rectangular fin portions 24. The horizontal slits 23X of the outer seal member 21A and the inner seal member 21B overlap each other in plan view, but the formation period of the multiple vertical slits 23Y arranged at equal intervals in the horizontal direction does not overlap each other between the outer seal member 21A and the inner seal member 21B, but is shifted by half a period. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6(c), one of the fin portions 24 of the inner seal member 21B overlaps with two adjacent fin portions 24, 24 of the outer seal member 21A and one of the vertical slits 23Y separating the two fin portions 24, 24 in plan view. The other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment. This embodiment can achieve the same effects as the first embodiment.

[0032] The above describes a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention, and it goes without saying that these modifications are also included within the scope of the present invention.

[0033] For example, although outer seal member 21A is provided on the outside of wall 5 and inner seal member 21B is provided on the inside of wall 5, they may both be provided on the outside of wall 5 or on the inside of wall 5. In other words, it is only necessary that outer seal member 21A is provided closer to the outside of processing chamber 3 than inner seal member 21B in the direction in which a hand is inserted, and there are no particular limitations on the positional relationship with wall 5. Furthermore, there are no particular limitations on the method of fixing outer seal member 21A and inner seal member 21B.

[0034] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the number of slits 23 is eight, but the present invention is not particularly limited to the number of slits 23, and it may be seven or less, or nine or more.

[0035] In the above embodiment, the pair of access windows 10, 10 are provided on the front panel 5A of the processing chamber 3, but there are no particular limitations on the installation position or number of access windows 10. The interior of the processing chamber is not limited to a low dew point environment, and various indoor environments different from the external environment, such as a dust-free clean room or a constant temperature environment, can be used. [Example]

[0036] The change in the environment inside the processing chamber that occurs when a hand is inserted into the access window was evaluated. The access window of Comparative Example 1 is a so-called curtain-type access window, in which a horizontally long opening provided in the front panel of the processing chamber is covered with a number of strip-shaped curtains. Comparative Example 2 is a single-pane access window, in which the inner seal member 21B is omitted from the access window 10 according to the first embodiment shown in Figure 2 etc. The example is a double-pane access window according to the first embodiment shown in Figure 2 etc.

[0037] In the evaluation test, the intake dew point temperature in the duct connected to the treatment chamber was set to -82°C, and the change in dew point temperature in the treatment chamber before and after inserting a hand into the access window was measured with a dew point thermometer.

[0038] FIG. 7 is a graph showing the results of measuring the dew point in the work booths provided with the access windows according to Comparative Examples 1 and 2 and the example.

[0039] As shown in Figure 7, in the case of the curtain-type access window according to Comparative Example 1, the dew point temperature inside the treatment chamber was -69°C before the hand was inserted, but after the hand was inserted, the dew point temperature increased rapidly, reaching -45°C after 2 minutes, and then remained almost constant.

[0040] In the case of the single-pane accessible window according to Comparative Example 2, the dew point temperature inside the treatment chamber was -69°C before the hand was inserted, but after the hand was inserted the dew point temperature increased, reaching -59°C after 2 minutes, and then remaining almost constant.

[0041] In the case of the double-panel access window according to the embodiment, the dew point temperature inside the treatment chamber before the hand was placed inside was -69°C, but even after the hand was placed inside, there was almost no increase in the dew point temperature, and the dew point temperature remained at -67°C. From these results, it was confirmed that the double-panel access window is more effective at preventing changes to the indoor environment than conventional access windows. [Explanation of symbols]

[0042] 1 work booth 2 bases 3 Processing chamber 5 Wall 5A Front Panel 5h opening 8 Duct 9. Air Conditioner 10. Care window 20 Double seal member 21A Outer seal member 21B Inner sealing member 22 Elastic sheet material 23, 23A, 23b Slit 23X horizontal slit 23Y vertical slit 24, 24A, 24B Fins 25 Gap 30 Fixing member 31A Outer frame member 31B Inner frame member 31C bolts 31D Nut 40 skill

Claims

1. A service window provided on a wall separating the inside and outside of a work booth, a double seal member that closes the opening that penetrates the wall surface; a fixing member that fixes the double seal member to the wall surface, The double seal member is The sealing member is provided with an outer seal member and an inner seal member, each of which has a plurality of slits formed in an elastic sheet material, and the slits form a plurality of fin portions, one of the fin portions of the inner seal member overlaps, in a plan view, two adjacent fin portions of the plurality of fin portions of the outer seal member and one of the slits separating the two fin portions; The inner seal member is thinner than the outer seal member, The difference in thickness between the outer seal member and the inner seal member is 0.5 mm or more and 3 mm or less, The maintenance window is characterized in that a gap of 3 to 8 mm is provided between the outer seal member and the inner seal member.

2. In the outer seal member and the inner seal member, the plurality of slits are provided radially from a center of the opening, The plurality of slits formed in the outer seal member are The service window according to claim 1 , which does not overlap with the plurality of slits formed in the inner seal member in a plan view.

3. 3. The access window according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of slits are eight slits arranged at 45° intervals.

4. The plurality of slits of the inner seal member are The service window according to claim 3 , which is offset by a half period relative to the plurality of slits in the outer seal member.

5. A service window as described in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the thickness of the outer sealing member is 2 to 4 mm and the thickness of the inner sealing member is 1 to 3 mm.

6. A service window as described in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the size of the gap is equal to the thickness of the wall body that constitutes the wall surface.

7. a processing chamber that provides an indoor environment different from the external environment; A work booth comprising the access window according to any one of claims 1 to 6, provided on a wall surface that separates the inside and outside of the processing chamber.

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