Liquid Plasma Raw Material Supply for Stable Low-Volume Feeding
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing plasma raw material supply systems require large storage volumes and consume excessive energy due to the need for maintaining molten metal at high temperatures, leading to unstable raw material supply and increased energy consumption.
Innovation Solution
A raw material supply device that maintains plasma raw material in a liquid state within a reduced-pressure chamber, using temperature control mechanisms to adjust the state of the material and supply it as needed, reducing the storage volume and energy consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If plasma raw material is stored in large volume to ensure stable supply, then supply stability is improved, but storage volume and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The storage system is divided into multiple small storage chambers instead of one large chamber. Each chamber stores a small amount of plasma raw material, and the system switches between chambers to ensure continuous supply. This segmentation reduces the total storage volume while maintaining supply stability through redundant chambers.
Solution Approach 2:
The plasma raw material is pre-heated and maintained in liquid state in the storage chambers before use. By preparing the material in advance and maintaining it in the required state, the system ensures immediate availability without needing large storage volumes of material that would require continuous heating.
2Reliability
If plasma raw material is maintained at high temperature to keep in liquid state, then supply stability is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The storage system is divided into multiple small storage chambers instead of one large chamber. Each chamber stores a small amount of plasma raw material, and the system switches between chambers to ensure continuous supply. This segmentation reduces the total storage volume while maintaining supply stability through redundant chambers.
Solution Approach 2:
The system periodically switches between different storage chambers rather than continuously heating one large volume. By cycling through multiple chambers and allowing them to cool between uses, the system reduces the total energy required to maintain plasma raw material in liquid state while ensuring continuous supply availability.
3Reliability
If large amount of plasma raw material is stored, then supply stability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The storage system is divided into multiple small storage chambers instead of one large chamber. Each chamber stores a small amount of plasma raw material, and the system switches between chambers to ensure continuous supply. This segmentation reduces the total storage volume while maintaining supply stability through redundant chambers.
Solution Approach 2:
The multiple storage chambers share common control systems, heating mechanisms, and switching valves. By making these components multi-functional and shared across chambers, the system achieves supply stability through redundancy while minimizing the increase in overall device complexity through resource sharing.
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
Stable and efficient supply of plasma raw material is achieved with reduced storage requirements and lower energy consumption, ensuring consistent operation of the light source apparatus.
Implementation Method 1
a heating mechanism (40) that heats the plasma raw material (1) in the raw material tank (34)
Implementation Method 2
a supply valve mechanism (36) that opens and closes a flow of the liquid plasma raw material (1)
Implementation Method 3
causes a plasma raw material to be transformed into plasma by irradiating the plasma raw material with an energy beam to generate radiation
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
A raw material supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention is a raw material supply device that supplies, to an inside of a reduced-pressure chamber, a plasma raw material that is transformed into plasma to generate radiation when irradiated with an energy beam, including a raw material tank; and a supply controller. The raw material tank holds the plasma raw material in a liquid state. The supply controller includes a supply pipe that connects the raw material tank and the reduced-pressure chamber to each other and supplies the liquid plasma raw material held inside the raw material tank to a storage container provided inside the reduced-pressure chamber, and controls supply of the liquid plasma raw material through the supply pipe.