Gas separation – Combined or convertible – In environmental air enclosure
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-14
2001-09-18
Simmons, David A. (Department: 1724)
Gas separation
Combined or convertible
In environmental air enclosure
C055S422000, C055S484000, C055S502000, C454S187000, C096S421000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06290741
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The entire text of the above-referenced disclosure is specifically incorporated by reference herein without disclaimer.
1. Field of the Invention
The disclosed device relates to an auxiliary device for filter exchange in a clean room, and more particularly to an auxiliary device for easily exchanging the filter used in a clean room.
2. Description of Related Art
There is a great demand for a high-purity production environment in the high-tech industries in order to improve the performance and the yield of the production products, wherein the high-precision, high-purity, and asepsis of the production line should be especially and strictly required.
The production environment in the industry is greatly improved benefiting from the introduction of the clean room, which is grouped into several ones like Bio Clean Room (BCR) for preventing the bio-contamination in the field, such as medical field, drug and medicine, food, genetic engineering, etc. and Industrial Clean Room (ICR) for preventing the contamination by particles in the field, such as semiconductor devices industry, precise machinery, new materials industries, etc.
Among various kinds of the above clean rooms, the semiconductor devices fabrication process requires an environment where the Down Stream Laminar Flow Type is formed inside its production line in order to remove particles having an enormous effect on the failure of the performance of semiconductor devices and the production yield.
The Down Stream Laminar Flow Type is good for quickly removing particles generated in the various equipment, materials, facilities, etc. or by operators from the production line.
The construction and the function of the clean room to form Down Stream Laminar Flow thereinside are in detail illustrated referring to FIG.
1
.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, a grating pad
14
having a plurality of holes is installed on a pad frame
12
which is placed a certain height apart from the bottom of the clean room
10
, which is divided by the upper side and lower side of the grating pad
14
.
Over the grating pad
14
, there is installed a production line
16
for accommodating the facility for fabricating semiconductor device (not shown in the figure for its simplicity), and below the grating pad
14
, an auxiliary facility for assisting the above fabrication facility (not shown in the figure for its simplicity) and a circulation fan
18
for circulating the air inside the clean room
10
.
The circulation fan
18
installed as above induces the air around the upper side and the lower side of the grating pad
14
by means of suction way and guides it to the upper side of the production line
16
through the passage
20
on the sidewall of the clean room
10
.
Meanwhile, on the upper side of the production line
16
is installed a plurality of filters
22
for filtering the air which may be contaminated during its moving by being supported by a filter frame
24
, and the air over the filter
22
passes through the filter
22
by the pressure state formed by the circulation fan
18
and again induced into the production line
16
in order to form the circulation line.
The air passing through the filter
22
directs downward from the upper side of the production line
16
by the circulation fan
18
and passes the holes of the grating pad
14
vertically moving downward in order to form a Down Stream Laminar Flow.
Therefore, the particles continuously generated inside the production line
16
are induced and discharged out toward the lower side of the grating pad
14
by the above Down Stream Laminar Flow in order to maintain highly pure state inside clean room
10
.
In the meantime, when the filter
22
for filtering the air is damaged or contaminated losing its original function, the air which is not filtered through the damaged filter
22
and contaminated is quickly spreading and badly affects the formation of a Down Stream Laminar Flow so as to contaminate the inside the production line
16
.
In order to prevent this problem, a regular inspection for the damage and contamination of the filter
22
is made, and the filter
22
to be found damaged is replaced along with a new one with emergency measures.
However, if the filter
22
is replaced while the air is continuously circulated, a large amount of contaminated air is induced into the production line
16
through an open area so as to contaminate the production line
16
.
Therefore, according to the conventional method, the exchange of the damaged filter
22
is carried out in such a manner that the end side of the anti-electrostatic vinyl between the filter frame
24
and the pad frame
12
which respectively support the filter
22
to be exchanged, and the grating pad
14
placed under the filter
22
is sealed by using the adhesive member
28
, and then the damaged filter
22
is replaced on the upper side of the filter frame
24
.
However, as the damaged filter
22
is replaced, the air existing in the upper side of the filter frame
24
moves toward the open area by the pressure difference due to the exchange.
By pressure of the air passing through the anti-electrostatic vinyl
26
, and the pressure difference inside the production line
16
, the sealed end of the anti-electrostatic vinyl
26
is separated, and through the open area, the induced, non-filtered and contaminated air spreads inside the production line
16
thereby causing the contamination thereof.
Therefore, conventional exchange operation of the filter
22
required the stop of various kinds of facilities installed inside the production line
16
. Further, the conventional exchange operation is carried out with the air circulation stopped, which results in a reduction of the productivity and increased time loss, due to the necessity of facility restoration.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Disclosed is an auxiliary device or jig for filter exchange, wherein a damaged filter of the production line is easily and rapidly replaced while the production facilities are on operation with the air around circulated, thereby improving the productivity and reducing the restoration time for the facility, which substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
To achieve these and other advantages, and in accordance with the purpose of the disclosed device, as embodied and broadly described, there is provided an auxiliary device or jig for filter exchange used in a filtering system comprising a plurality of filters, and a plurality of filter frames extended downwardly toward the inside of the production line, wherein the auxiliary device for filter exchange has a temporary frame installed corresponding to the extended part of the filter frame in order to prevent contaminated air to pass through.
In one embodiment, an auxiliary device or jig for filter exchange may include a block plate having a width to be inserted through the filter frame extended downwardly toward the inside of a production line and equipped with a filter thereon; a support for supporting the bottom of the block plate and facing with the inside wall of the filter frame keeping a constant distance between them; and a tube having an air passage and installed to closely adhere to the filter frame along the circumference of the support for sealing.
The support includes a plurality of plates, each of them facing with each corresponding inside wall of the filter frame in its every direction, and the position in which the tube is placed has a concave-shape, and the upper side of the support is integrated with the lower circumference side of the block plate.
In addition, the support includes an upper plate facing the bottom of the block plate, a side wall extended downwardly from the peripheral side of the upper plate, and a protrusion plate extended outwardly from the bottom of the side wall. A handle is provided on a certain position of the bottom of the support.
The tube is made of elastic polymer, and a sealing member is installed in order to block the gap between the edge of the filter frame and its
Honeycutt Timothy M.
Hopkins Robert A.
Samsung Austin Semiconductor, L.P.
Simmons David A.
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