Gas separation: apparatus – Solid sorbent apparatus – Plural solid sorbent beds
Reexamination Certificate
2003-03-17
2003-08-12
Spitzer, Robert H. (Department: 1724)
Gas separation: apparatus
Solid sorbent apparatus
Plural solid sorbent beds
C096S132000, C096S142000, C096S143000, C096S150000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06605141
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for processing discharging exhaust gas, and more particularly, to an apparatus combining a zeolite rotor concentrator and an active carbon adsorption system together so that the setting cost is lowered and the processing efficiency is raised.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As the manufacturing process in the semiconductor industry becomes more and more complicated, many poisonous organic gases come with chemical reactions in the process. For protecting the environment and obeying related regulations that are more and more strict, an apparatus for processing exhaust gas is required. Moreover, the setting cost is as important as the efficiency in designing an exhaust gas processing apparatus.
Please refer to FIG.
1
.
FIG. 1
is a schematic diagram of an exhaust gas processing apparatus
10
according to the prior art. As shown in
FIG. 1
, the exhaust gas processing apparatus
10
comprises a front fan
12
, a zeolite rotor concentrator
14
, a switch
16
, and a chimney
18
. The exhaust gas is introduced into the exhaust gas processing apparatus
10
by the front fan
12
installed in an inlet, processed by the zeolite rotor concentrator
14
, and discharged by the chimney
18
. Because the organic gas (say IPA, PGMEA, or EKC) contained in the exhaust gas is condensed and burned by the zeolite rotor concentrator
14
, the processing efficiency of the zeolite rotor concentrator
14
will deteriorate when the zeolite ages. In this case, the zeolite rotor concentrator
14
is shut down for examination and necessary measures are adopted (such as replacing zeolite) to recover the normal processing function. The exhaust gas cannot be processed during the examination or zeolite replacement period; therefore the exhaust gas is switched by the switch
16
and discharged via another pipeline and the chimney
18
without being processed. During this period the unprocessed exhaust gas will pollute the environment and violate the environmental regulations. In view of this problem, the pause time of the zeolite rotor concentrator
14
should be taken into consideration when designing new exhaust gas processing models.
Please refer to FIG.
2
.
FIG. 2
is a schematic diagram of another exhaust gas processing apparatus according to the prior art. As shown in
FIG. 2
, the exhaust gas processing apparatus
20
comprises a front fan
22
, a switch
23
, a first zeolite rotor concentrator
24
, a second zeolite rotor concentrator
26
, and a chimney
28
. Normally the exhaust gas processing apparatus
20
operates in the same manner with the exhaust gas processing apparatus
10
, the exhaust gas is introduced by the front fan
22
, processed by the first zeolite rotor concentrator
24
, and discharged via the chimney
28
. The difference between the two apparatuses is that when the first zeolite rotor concentrator
24
needs examining or replacement of the zeolite because of zeolite aging or other reasons, the exhaust gas is switched by the switch
23
and processed by the second zeolite rotor concentrator
26
. In this case the exhaust gas processing apparatus is able to operate unceasingly.
Although the exhaust gas processing apparatus
20
can solve the pause time problem, it is an impractical design. To set an exhaust gas processing apparatus with a second zeolite rotor concentrator (say flux: 870CMM; concentration: 300 ppm), the setting cost will raise about 1 million US dollars but the average operating time is only five days a year. Therefore a high efficiency and low cost exhaust gas processing apparatus is eagerly required.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed invention to provide an exhaust gas processing apparatus that can solve the above-mentioned pause time problem.
It is another objective of the claimed invention to provide an exhaust gas processing apparatus that can improve processing efficiency, and lower the setting cost.
According to the claimed invention, an exhaust gas processing apparatus having a front fan, a zeolite rotor concentrator, an active carbon adsorption system, a switch, and a chimney is provided. The switch can make the zeolite rotor concentrator and the active carbon adsorption system connect together in series or in parallel. Moreover, the exhaust gas processing apparatus includes a plurality of regulating valves for controlling the exhaust gas flux flowing to the zeolite rotor concentrator and the active carbon adsorption system in different operating modes, a back fan installed in an outlet for pumping out the exhaust gas processed by the active carbon adsorption system, and a check damper installed in the outlet for preventing the exhaust gas processed by the zeolite rotor concentrator from flowing backward to the active carbon adsorption system.
It is an advantage of the claimed invention that the active carbon adsorption system is connected to the zeolite rotor concentrator in series or in parallel so that the total processing efficiency is raised.
It is another advantage of the claimed invention that the active carbon adsorption system can replace the zeolite rotor concentrator during the examination period so that the problem of a pause time is solved. Moreover, because the exhaust gas processing apparatus of the claimed invention uses an active carbon adsorption system instead of a second zeolite rotor concentrator, the setting cost is much lower.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4786301 (1988-11-01), Rhodes
patent: 5076821 (1991-12-01), Bruhnke et al.
patent: 5167679 (1992-12-01), Maekawa et al.
patent: 5814132 (1998-09-01), Grime et al.
patent: 6080227 (2000-06-01), Kurosawa et al.
patent: 6083304 (2000-07-01), Fujimura
Lee Ching-Tien
Mai Wei-Jen
Hsu Winston
Powerchip Semiconductor Corp.
Spitzer Robert H.
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