Vacuum Screw Linear Guide for Clean Room Particle Extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional linear guides used in clean rooms generate particles through friction, which can contaminate the environment despite efforts to minimize particle generation, as air bearings are not always feasible due to cost constraints.
Innovation Solution
A linear guide design featuring a rail and carriage joined by screws, where one screw is a vacuum screw with an axial channel to extract particles from the air gap between the rail and carriage, utilizing a vacuum system to prevent particle escape and contamination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional bearings (ball bearings or slide bearings) are used in linear guides, then cost is reduced compared to air bearings, but particles are generated through friction and abrasion
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes particles from the air gap between rail and carriage using a vacuum system. A vacuum channel is integrated into the carriage structure, allowing continuous suction of particles generated by friction, preventing their accumulation and contamination of the clean room environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a vacuum system as an intermediary mechanism between the friction interface and the clean room environment. This vacuum system acts as a mediator that captures particles before they can escape into the surrounding clean room, allowing conventional bearings to be used without compromising clean room standards.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If air bearings are used to eliminate friction and particle generation, then particle contamination is reduced, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The linear guide system performs self-service by continuously removing its own waste particles through an integrated vacuum system. The vacuum channel is built into the carriage structure, allowing the system to autonomously manage particle removal without requiring external intervention or complex additional components.
3Productivity
If vacuum channels are integrated into the screw structure, then particle removal efficiency is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the vacuum channel function with the existing screw structure. The vacuum channel is integrated directly into the carriage body, combining two functions (fastening and particle removal) into a single structural element, thereby avoiding additional separate vacuum components and reducing overall system complexity.
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
Effectively prevents particle contamination in clean rooms by efficiently vacuuming away particles generated by friction, ensuring a cleaner environment for sensitive manufacturing processes like integrated circuit production.
Implementation Method 1
One of the screws is a vacuum screw with an axial channel through which particles can be vacuumed away from an air gap between the rail and the carriage
Data Source
AI summary
A linear guide including a rail and a carriage joined to an application platform by a plurality of screws, wherein at least one of the plurality of screws is a vacuum screw with an axial channel through which particles can be vacuumed out of an air gap between the rail and the carriage.