Modular Vacuum Chamber with Segmented Insert Plates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vacuum chambers for coating systems face challenges in flexibility and stability, particularly when modifications are needed, as one-piece designs are difficult to alter and modular designs with flange-connected areas can compromise structural stability.
Innovation Solution
A vacuum chamber design featuring a base plate and cover plate connected by perpendicular struts, with thick, polygonal plates and pentagonal profile struts for enhanced stability, allowing for flexible modifications and assembly without additional welding, and using threaded holes for secure insert plate attachment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a one-piece chamber body is used, then vacuum tightness and structural stability are improved, but flexibility for modifications deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The vacuum chamber is divided into multiple modular components including a base plate, cover plate, and multiple insert plates that can be independently installed and removed. This segmentation allows modifications to specific areas without affecting the entire chamber structure, while the overall one-piece construction of base and cover plates maintains vacuum tightness.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a modular design with flange-connected areas is used, then flexibility for modifications is improved, but structural stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The chamber is segmented into modular insert plates that fit into openings in the base and cover plates, allowing flexibility for modifications while maintaining structural integrity through the rigid one-piece plates.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple functional elements (targets, sources, pumps) are combined into integrated insert plate modules that can be pre-assembled and tested before installation into the main chamber, ensuring structural stability while enabling flexible configuration changes.
3Reliability
If additional sealing plates are welded to the frame, then vacuum tightness is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing function is merged into the main base plate and cover plate structures themselves, which are designed as one-piece components with integrated sealing surfaces. This eliminates the need for separate sealing plates and reduces manufacturing complexity while maintaining vacuum tightness.
4Ease of manufacture
If thin plates are used for the frame, then ease of bending and assembly is improved, but structural stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of bending thin plates to form the frame structure, the invention inverts the approach by using thick, rigid base and cover plates as the primary structural elements and inserting modular components into openings rather than bending the main structure.
Data Source
AI summary
A vacuum chamber (1) for coating installations is provided, wherein the vacuum chamber (1) has a bottom plate (6) and a top plate (2), which are connected to each other by struts (4) running substantially perpendicularly to the bottom plate (6) and the top plate (2), wherein a plurality of openings (9) are defined by the bottom plate (6), the top plate (2) and the struts (4), and wherein at least a portion of a front edge (15') of the bottom plate (6) and a portion of the front edge (15) of the top plate (2) form together with two struts (4) a sealing area, running around one opening (9) of the multiplicity of openings (9), for an insert plate (8) that can be inserted into the opening (9). In addition, a method for producing a vacuum chamber (1) for coating installations is provided, comprising the following steps: putting together a frame which has a bottom plate (6), a top plate (2) and struts (4), which connect the bottom plate (6) and the top plate (2), and welding the bottom plate (6) and the top plate (2) to the struts (4).