Apparatus including a clean mini environment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing apparatuses with mini environment chambers in semiconductor furnaces face high operational costs and energy losses due to the need for additional air intake pumps or high-pressure gas tanks to compensate for gas leakage and refresh recirculating gas, and restrictions in the recirculation channel lead to energy inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a recirculation restriction in the form of a throat within the gas recirculation channel with a diminishing cross-sectional area, where the air supply conduit opens downstream of the throat's minimum area, allowing ambient air to be passively sucked in, reducing the need for additional pumps or high-pressure sources and minimizing energy losses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If a restriction is provided in the recirculation channel to form a sub-atmospheric pressure area, then ambient air is sucked in to compensate for gas leakage, but energy losses increase requiring a pump with larger capacity
Solution Approach 1:
A separate air supply conduit is introduced as an intermediary element to deliver ambient air directly to the recirculation channel at the throat location. This bypasses the need to create sub-atmospheric pressure areas for air intake, eliminating the energy losses associated with restrictive flow paths while still achieving the goal of compensating for gas leakage through the chamber wall.
Solution Approach 2:
The air intake function is extracted from the recirculation channel itself and separated into a dedicated air supply conduit. This allows the recirculation channel to maintain smooth flow without restrictions, while the separate conduit handles the air supplementation task independently, resolving the conflict between air supply quantity and energy efficiency.
2Quantity of substance
If an additional air pump or high pressure gas tank is used to supply air to the recirculation circuit, then gas leakage is compensated, but operational costs and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system utilizes the existing gas pump's output pressure and the natural pressure differential between the recirculation channel and ambient environment to drive air intake through the throat and air supply conduit. No additional pumps or high-pressure gas tanks are required - the system self-regulates air intake using its own operational parameters, eliminating expensive auxiliary devices while maintaining effective compensation for gas leakage.
3Productivity
If the gas pump maintains higher pressure in the mini environment chamber, then gas circulation is effective, but gas leaks to the environment increasing the need for air supplementation
Solution Approach 1:
The pressure differential that causes harmful gas leakage is converted into a beneficial force for air intake. The same high pressure maintained by the gas pump that drives effective gas circulation also creates the pressure gradient necessary to draw ambient air through the throat and air supply conduit, transforming the leakage problem into a useful air supplementation mechanism.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution reduces power consumption and operational costs by leveraging the increased gas speed through the throat to draw in ambient air, maintaining efficient gas recirculation and air supply with minimal energy loss, comparable to systems without ambient air supplementation.
Implementation Method 1
the gas recirculation channel includes a recirculation restriction embodied as a throat in the gas recirculation channel, wherein the throat defines a flow path with a diminishing cross sectional surface area... the higher gas speed in the downstream end of the throat, which higher gas speed is caused by the reduced cross sectional area at the downstream end of the throat, the static pressure prevailing there is lower than the ambient pressure so that ambient air will be sucked in
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus (10), including a gas recirculation circuit comprising a mini environment chamber (14), a gas pump (16), a filter assembly (22) which are connected by a recirculation channel (20). The apparatus additionally includes an air supply conduit (18) for supplying air to the gas recirculation circuit and having an air supply conduit inlet (18a) which opens into the ambient air and an air supply conduit outlet (18b) which opens in the recirculation circuit. In use, a mini environment chamber pressure (Pme) is maintained higher than the ambient pressure (Pam). The gas recirculation channel (20) includes a substantially frictionless recirculation restriction embodied as a throat (30). At downstream end of the throat which forms the narrow part of the throat, in use, the static pressure is below the ambient pressure. The air supply conduit outlet opens at the downstream end (30a) of the throat.