Sliding-Guide Vacuum Gate Valve for Low-Particle Sealing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Vacuum valves used in high-purity applications, such as semiconductor and electron microscopy, face challenges with particle generation due to friction and wear, particularly when handling large workpieces, leading to unreliable gas-tight seals and increased wear on valve parts.
Innovation Solution
A vacuum valve design featuring a closure element with a coupling unit and guide mechanism that allows orthogonal adjustment, incorporating a linear drive unit with damping and a guide element for precise movement, ensuring minimal lateral stress on the seal and reducing particle formation through controlled closing and opening movements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a closure element is used to close the opening in vacuum valves, then gas-tight sealing is achieved, but particle formation due to friction and wear occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical sliding closure system with a magnetic field-based closure system. The closure element is magnetically attracted to the valve seat without physical contact during operation, eliminating friction and wear that cause particle formation. The magnetic force provides the necessary holding force for gas-tight sealing without requiring sliding surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies a magnetic field that extends beyond the immediate closure interface, creating a field distribution that ensures complete sealing while minimizing contact. The magnetic flux is designed to concentrate at the sealing interface when closed, providing excessive magnetic pressure to ensure gas-tight sealing while maintaining minimal contact area to reduce particle generation risk.
2Reliability
If the closure element is pressed onto the valve seat to ensure gas-tight sealing, then sealing reliability improves, but wear on valve parts increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent substitutes mechanical pressing contact with magnetic field interaction. The closure element is held against the valve seat by magnetic attraction rather than mechanical pressure from a actuator, eliminating the wear that would result from repeated mechanical pressing operations. The magnetic force maintains consistent sealing pressure without contact wear.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the fundamental parameter of force application from mechanical contact force to magnetic field force. This parameter change allows the sealing force to be applied without physical contact during the actuation process, thereby eliminating wear while maintaining the necessary sealing pressure for gas-tight operation.
3Measurement precision
If a linear drive unit is used to adjust the closure element, then precise positioning is achieved, but lateral stress on the seal increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the linear drive unit's mechanical contact-based positioning with a magnetic field-based positioning system. The closure element is positioned and held in place by magnetic forces that can be precisely controlled through field strength modulation, eliminating lateral stresses that would result from mechanical guide surfaces and contact-based actuation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the actuation mechanism from mechanical linear displacement to magnetic field strength control. This allows precise positioning of the closure element by adjusting the magnetic field parameters rather than relying on mechanical positioning components that would introduce lateral stresses on the seal interface.
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
The design achieves reliable gas-tight sealing with reduced particle formation and improved wear properties, enabling efficient and precise operation even with large workpieces, while minimizing wear and tear on valve components.
Implementation Method 1
face challenges with particle generation due to friction and wear
Implementation Method 2
incorporating a linear drive unit with damping
Data Source
Figure 1a~1c
Figure 2a~2c
Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to a vacuum valve (10) for closing, in a substantially gas-tight manner, an opening defining an opening axis, said vacuum valve having a closure member (14) with a closure side and a coupling unit arranged on a rear side opposite the closure side, and a valve wall which runs around the opening and has a valve seat (12a). The valve further has a linear drive unit, by means of which the closure member (14) can be adjusted along an adjustment axis in at least two adjustment directions substantially orthogonal to the opening axis and thus the closure member (14) can be adjusted between an open position, exposing the opening, an intermediate position, pushed over the opening, and a closed position, closing the opening. The vacuum valve (10) has a guide for the closure member (14), said guide being associated with the opening. The closure member (14) has a guide member (25) which interacts with the guide during adjustment out of the open position into the closed position, and back again, and the guide and the guide member (25) are formed and interact such that, during adjustment out of the intermediate position into the closed position, in a first partial movement, a tilting of the closure member (14) transversely with respect to the adjustment axis is initiated and/or effected.