JPH0345846A - Air conditioning equipment for clean room - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable an automatic adjusting of an amount of clean air blown in a direction perpendicular to a vertical lamination flow to be performed by a method wherein an output signal from a sensor is received by a controller so as to control an opening or closing of a damper. CONSTITUTION:Both walls of a casing 11 are provided with an air intake port 12 and an air discharging port 13 opened in a horizontal direction. A clean room 14 of which inner side is cleaned with a vertical lamination flow is provided with a blowing port 15 and a discharging port 16 at its ceiling part and a floor part, respectively. A plurality of sensors 17 for use in detecting variations of the vertical flow (a flow direction, a flow speed and pressure) are arranged near the ceiling part within the clean room 14, and a damper 18 for use in adjusting an amount of air guided to a filter 4 is arranged within a passage 2 in such a way as it may be freely opened or closed. A controller 19 for controlling an opening or closing of the damper 18 is connected to the sensors 17 and is arranged within the casing 11. In case of this air conditioner, the controller 19 receives output signals from the sensors 17 so as to control an opening or closing of the damper 18, thereby an amount of clean air supplied and blown in a direction perpendicular to the vertical lamination flow can be automatically adjusted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to air conditioning equipment for clean rooms, such as clean benches.

[Conventional technology]

In general, as clean rooms widely known in the semiconductor manufacturing field, those having a so-called vertical laminar flow structure are widely used because they have the advantage of not forming a stagnant layer of air.

Air conditioning equipment such as a clean bench is attached to this type of clean room.

Conventionally, this type of clean room air conditioning equipment has been constructed as shown in FIG. To explain this based on the same figure, in the figure, reference numeral 1 indicates an air intake port (not shown).
and an air outlet (not shown); 3 is a blower installed on the air intake side of the passage 2 of the housing 1 and blows air toward the air outlet; 4;
5 is a filter provided in the blowing direction of the blower 3 to capture dust, and 5 is a manual damper which is freely openable and closable between the filter 4 and the blower 3 and adjusts the amount of air blown. Note that 6 is an electric motor that drives the blower 3.

In the clean room air conditioner configured as described above, when the blower 3 is driven by the electric motor 6, air taken into the housing 1 from the air intake port (not shown) passes through the filter 4 and is then pumped into the clean room ( (not shown) is blown out as clean air. At this time, the inside of the clean room (not shown) is cleaned by vertical laminar flow (downflow). Note that the direction of air blown out from the air outlet (not shown) is a direction (horizontal direction) perpendicular to the vertical laminar flow of the clean room (not shown).

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Incidentally, in this type of clean room air conditioner, the amount of blown air is manually adjusted by opening and closing the damper 5, so that the amount of air supplied into the clean room (not shown) is adjusted manually. In some cases, the balance between the amount of air flowing into the clean room and the amount of air being discharged outside the clean room (not shown) was lost. That is, each time a conveyance machine or the like moves on the floor of a clean room (not shown), a portion of the discharge port (not shown) of the clean room (not shown) will be blocked. As a result, an air flow occurs in a direction perpendicular to the vertical laminar flow in a clean room (not shown), resulting in a problem that the vertical laminar flow cannot be maintained at all times.

The present invention was made in view of these circumstances, and provides an air conditioner for a clean room that can prevent the generation of airflow in a direction perpendicular to the vertical laminar flow, thereby maintaining the vertical laminar flow in the clean room. equipment.

[Means to solve the problem]

A clean room air conditioner according to the present invention includes a sensor for detecting changes in vertical laminar flow provided in a clean room, and a controller for controlling opening and closing of a damper connected to this sensor.

[For production]

In the present invention, the controller receives the output signal from the sensor and controls the opening and closing of the damper, thereby automatically adjusting the amount of clean air blown out in a direction perpendicular to the vertical laminar flow.

〔Example〕

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the structure etc. of this invention will be explained in detail by the Example shown in the figure.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a clean room air conditioner according to the present invention. In the figure, the same members as in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. In the figure, an air intake port 12 and an air discharge port 13 that open in the horizontal direction are provided on both walls of the casing indicated by reference numeral 11.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a clean room whose interior is cleaned by vertical laminar flow, and an air outlet 15 and an outlet 16 are provided in the ceiling and floor, respectively. A plurality of sensors 17 detect changes in vertical laminar flow (wind direction, wind speed, and pressure), and are installed near the ceiling in the clean room 14 . Reference numeral 18 denotes a damper that adjusts the amount of air introduced into the filter 4, and is provided in the passage 2 so as to be openable and closable. A controller 19 controls opening and closing of the damper 18, and is connected to the sensor 17 and provided inside the housing 11. Note that arrows A and B in the figure indicate the directions of clean air supplied from the air outlet 13 and the blower outlet 15.

In the clean room air conditioner configured in this way, the controller 19 receives the output signal from the sensor 17 and controls the opening and closing of the damper 18, thereby automatically controlling the supply amount of clean air blown out in a direction perpendicular to the vertical laminar flow. can be adjusted accordingly.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the clean room 14
Even if a part of the discharge port 16 is blocked due to the movement of a conveyor or the like on the floor surface of the clean room 14, the balance between the amount of air supplied into the clean room 14 and the amount of air discharged into the clean room 14 is maintained. This can prevent the generation of airflow in a direction perpendicular to the vertical laminar flow.

Although this embodiment shows an example in which the present invention is applied to a clean bench or the like, the present invention is not limited thereto, and can be applied to other air conditioning equipment in the same manner as in the embodiment.

Moreover, the sensor 17 and the controller 1 in the present invention
Of course, the setting position of 9 is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, a sensor for detecting changes in vertical laminar flow is provided in the clean room, and a controller for controlling the opening and closing of the damper is connected to this sensor.
By controlling the opening and closing of the damper in response to the output signal from the sensor, the controller can automatically adjust the amount of clean air blown out in a direction perpendicular to the vertical laminar flow. Therefore, even if a part of the discharge port is blocked due to, for example, a conveyor moving on the floor of the clean room,
Since it is possible to maintain a balance between the amount of air supplied into the clean room and the amount of air discharged outside the clean room, it is possible to prevent the generation of air flow in a direction perpendicular to the vertical laminar flow, thereby reducing the vertical laminar flow inside the clean room. can be maintained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a clean room air conditioner according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional clean room air conditioner. 11... Housing, 12... Air intake, 13...
・・Air discharge port, 14・・・Clean room, 15・
...Air outlet, 16...Discharge port, 17...Sensor, 18...Damper, 19...Controller. Agent: Masu Oiwa, Figure 15; Mak; Giro, Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a clean room air conditioner equipped with an opening/closing damper that adjusts the volume of air blown out horizontally into a vertical laminar flow clean room, a sensor is provided in the clean room to detect changes in the vertical laminar flow, and this An air conditioner for a clean room, characterized in that a controller for controlling opening and closing of the damper is connected to the sensor.