JPH0351313Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] "Field of industrial application" This invention is a device for replenishing the raw material in the auxiliary raw material container into the main raw material container in order to compensate for the decrease in raw material in the main raw material container due to raw material consumption. Regarding.

"Prior art and its problems" High purity and high quality glass materials are manufactured using the MCVD method, PCVD method, VAD method, etc. in the communication field, optical field, etc.
When producing by an appropriate method such as OVD method, the vaporized raw material from the main raw material container is supplied to a predetermined reaction system,
At this time, the decrease in the raw material in the main raw material container due to raw material consumption is compensated for by replenishing the raw material from the auxiliary raw material container into the main raw material container.

As such a raw material replenishment device, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-122735
Although the prior art disclosed in the above publication has been commonly used, this device suffers from various problems as pointed out by the invention of the same publication.

The invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 122735/1983 improves this by skillfully connecting the gas pressure feeding piping system provided in the auxiliary raw material container and the liquid raw material replenishment piping system from the auxiliary raw material container to the main raw material container. By combining these, it is possible to efficiently replenish raw materials from the auxiliary raw material container to the main raw material container. However, even with this conventional invention, it is difficult to rationally configure each piping system and smoothly remove the remaining liquid raw material in the raw material supply pipe. There is still room for improvement regarding processing.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention aims to provide a raw material auxiliary device that can streamline the raw material replenishment piping system and can smoothly dispose of the liquid raw material remaining in the raw material supply pipe.

``Means for Solving Problems'' In order to achieve the intended purpose, this invention has a piping system for replenishing raw materials inside the main raw material container that vaporizes the liquid raw materials inside and takes out the vaporized raw materials to the outside. In the apparatus for replenishing the liquid raw material in the auxiliary raw material container through a gas blowing pipe, a raw material supply pipe, a pipe for communicating with the atmosphere,
The gas blowing pipe has a control valve in the pipe and is inserted into the gas phase part of the auxiliary raw material container, and has vertical pipe parts at both ends having control valves, and both vertical pipes. The above-mentioned raw material supply pipe consists of a horizontal pipe part extending over 300 mm, and one of the vertical pipe parts is inside the auxiliary raw material container,
The other vertical pipe part is inserted into the main raw material container, and the horizontal pipe part has a slope that descends from the main raw material container side to the auxiliary raw material container side, and the atmospheric communication piping is The auxiliary pipe has a control valve in the pipe and is inserted into the gas phase part of the auxiliary raw material container, and the auxiliary pipe has a control valve in the pipe, one end of which is connected to the gas blowing pipe, and the other end of which is inserted into the gas phase part of the auxiliary raw material container. are connected to the highest parts of the raw material supply pipes.

``Operation'' In the device of the present invention described above, when the amount of decrease in the liquid raw material in the main raw material container reaches a predetermined value, the inside of the auxiliary raw material container is pressurized via the gas blowing pipe, thereby reducing the liquid in the auxiliary raw material container. The raw material is pumped into the main raw material container.

When the liquid raw material in the main raw material container reaches a predetermined amount by such raw material replenishment, pressurization of the auxiliary raw material container by the gas blowing pipe is stopped, and at the same time, the atmosphere communication pipe is opened, and the gas in the gas blowing pipe is is flowed into the raw material supply pipe via the auxiliary pipe, whereby a part of the liquid raw material remaining in the raw material supply pipe is returned to the auxiliary raw material container, and the remainder is sent into the main raw material container.

Therefore, no liquid raw material remains in the raw material replenishment pipe after the raw material is replenished, and because there is no residual raw material, the liquid raw material can always be accurately replenished from the auxiliary raw material container to the main raw material container.

At this time, the inside of the auxiliary raw material container is communicated with the atmosphere via the atmosphere communication pipe, so the liquid raw material remaining in the raw material supply pipe does not experience pressure resistance, and moreover, the horizontal pipe part of the raw material supply pipe is on the side of the main raw material container. Since it has a slope that descends from the top to the side of the auxiliary raw material container, the liquid raw material remaining in the raw material supply pipe is quickly returned to the auxiliary raw material container due to the synergistic effect of the head difference and the gas pressure.

Furthermore, since the necessary piping is a gas blowing pipe, a raw material supply pipe, an atmospheric communication pipe, an auxiliary pipe, etc., the overall piping system can be constructed simply and inexpensively.

"Embodiments" Hereinafter, embodiments of the raw material replenishment device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, 21 is a known constant temperature bath, 31 is a main raw material container, 41 is a liquid level gauge, 51 is a flow path controller,
61 is an auxiliary raw material container.

The main raw material container 31 loaded into the constant temperature bath 21 is
Liquid phase section 32 containing liquid raw material in the lower part thereof
It also has a gas phase part 33 containing vaporized raw materials in the upper part thereof, a carrier gas blowing pipe 34 is inserted into the liquid phase part 32, and a vaporized raw material extraction pipe 35 communicating with the reaction system is inserted into the gas phase part 33. It has been inserted.

The carrier gas blowing pipe 34 is connected to a gas cylinder (not shown), and has a flow rate controller 36 and a control valve 37 on the pipe.

The vaporized raw material extraction pipe 35 has a control valve 38 in its pipe line.
has.

The liquid level gauge 41 mainly has a thin tube structure that communicates with the liquid phase part 32 and the gas phase part 33 of the main raw material container 31, and has a detection mechanism that notifies the liquid level inside the main raw material container 31 to the flow path controller 51. are combined.

The flow path controller 51 has two sensors 5 to detect a predetermined liquid level range of the raw material container 31 via a liquid level gauge 41.
2 and 53, and these sensors 52 and 53 are arranged corresponding to predetermined positions of the liquid level gauge 41.

The auxiliary raw material container 61 has a liquid phase part 62 containing a liquid raw material in the lower part thereof, and a gas phase part 63 in the upper part thereof, and has a gas blowing pipe 64 and a raw material supply pipe as predetermined piping. A pipe 65, an atmosphere communication pipe 66, an auxiliary pipe 67, and the like are provided.

The gas blowing pipe 64 is connected to a gas cylinder (not shown), and a control valve 68 is provided in the pipe.
The gas blowing pipe 64 is connected to the auxiliary raw material container 6.
It is inserted into the gas phase section 63 of No. 1.

The raw material supply pipe 65 includes a vertical pipe part 65a having a control valve 69 and a vertical pipe part 65 having control valves 70 and 71.
c, and an inclined horizontal tube portion 65b spanning both vertical tube portions 65a and 65c, with one vertical tube portion 6
5a is inserted into the liquid phase part 62 of the auxiliary raw material container 61, and the other vertical pipe part 65c is inserted into the gas phase part 33 of the main raw material container 31.

When the horizontal pipe portion 65b of the raw material supply pipe 65 is inclined as described above, the vertical pipe portion 65
The upper end of the vertical pipe portion 65a is high, and the upper end of the vertical tube portion 65a is low.

The atmosphere communication pipe 66 equipped with a control valve 72 has one end inserted into the gas phase section 63 of the auxiliary raw material container 61, and the other end communicates with the atmosphere by opening the control valve 72. ing.

The auxiliary pipe 67 has a control valve 73 in its pipe line, and one end thereof is connected to the gas blowing pipe 64, and the other end is connected to the highest part of the raw material supply pipe 65.

Control valves 37, 38, 68, 6 for each piping described above
The valves 9, 70, 71, 72, and 73 are electrically controllable, such as electromagnetic valves, and can be opened and closed via the flow path controller 51.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, during steady operation when supplying vaporized raw materials to a predetermined reaction system, the control valves
8 is open, other control valves 68, 69, 70, 7
1, 72, and 73 are held closed.

In this steady-state operation, inert gas (e.g. Ar)
Alternatively, a carrier gas such as oxygen is supplied to the liquid phase portion 3 of the main raw material container 31 via the carrier gas blowing pipe 34.
2, the raw material is vaporized by the bubbling action at this time and supported by the carrier gas, and is fed from the gas phase section 33 of the main raw material container 31 to a predetermined reaction system via the vaporized raw material take-out pipe 35. Ru.

The liquid raw material in the main raw material container 31 decreases due to the supply of the vaporized raw material, but when the amount of decrease reaches a predetermined value, a predetermined detection signal is input from the liquid level gauge 41 to the flow path controller 51, and the corresponding detection signal is input to the flow path controller 51. Upon receiving the signal, the flow path controller 51 closes the control valves 37, 72, and 73,
The other control valves 38, 68, 69, 70, 71 are opened.

In such a state, an inert gas (for example,
The liquid raw material (liquid phase part 62) in the auxiliary raw material container ₆₁ is pressurized by the gas pressure.
However, the vertical pipe part 65a and the horizontal pipe part 65 of the raw material supply pipe 65
b, it is replenished into the main raw material container 31 through the vertical pipe portion 65c.

When the liquid raw material in the main raw material container 31 reaches a predetermined amount due to raw material replenishment, one sensor 52 monitoring the liquid level gauge 41 detects this and sends the detection signal to the flow path controller 51. The flow path controller 51 that receives the input and the detection signal closes the control valve 68 and opens the control valves 72 and 73.

When the control valve 68 is closed, the inside of the auxiliary raw material container 61 is not pressurized, so that the auxiliary raw material container 61→
The supply of raw materials from the raw material supply pipe 65 to the main raw material container 31 is stopped.

On the other hand, as the control valve 68 is closed, the inert gas from the gas blowing pipe 64 passes through the auxiliary pipe 67 and is branched to both the horizontal pipe part 65b and the vertical pipe part 65c from the branching point.

As a result, the liquid raw material remaining in the horizontal pipe part 65b and vertical pipe part 65a of the raw material supply pipe 65 is returned to the auxiliary raw material container 61, and remains in the vertical pipe part 65c of the raw material supply pipe 65. The liquid raw material is fed into the main raw material container 31, thus preventing the liquid raw material from remaining in the raw material supply pipe 65.

In particular, the horizontal pipe portion 65b of the raw material supply pipe 65 is inclined downward toward the auxiliary raw material container 61, so that the remaining liquid raw material in the pipe portion is returned to the auxiliary raw material container 61 more quickly.

In the above, the vertical pipe portion 65c of the raw material supply pipe 65
When the remaining liquid raw material is sent into the main raw material container 31, the liquid level in the main raw material container 31 rises by that amount, but since the amount at this time is a known amount, the liquid level meter The other sensor 5 monitoring 41
3 should be taken into consideration in advance.

However, in reality, this residual amount is negligible compared to the total supply amount, so it can be ignored.

In addition, when replenishing liquid raw materials from one auxiliary raw material container 61 to a plurality of main raw material containers 31, multiple sets of the piping configuration surrounded by the two-dot chain line in the figure are provided across the raw material supply pipe 65 and the auxiliary piping 67. Vertical tube part 6
5c into each main raw material container 31.

Even when the number of auxiliary raw material containers 61:main raw material containers 31 is "1:multiple", raw material replenishment from the auxiliary raw material container 61 to each main raw material container 31 is performed in the same manner as described above, and raw material replenishment to each main raw material container 31 is performed in the same manner as described above. When stopping,
The same residual liquid return operation as described above is performed in the order in which the sensor 53 of each main raw material container 31 detects a predetermined liquid level.

As a means for supplying raw materials from the auxiliary raw material container 61 to each main raw material container 31, as shown in FIG. 2, a pipe 81 with a pump 82 is connected to the raw material supply pipe 65.
Other liquid feeding means may also be employed, but in such a case as well, the remaining liquid raw material in the raw material supply pipe 65 is removed by gas pressure feeding, as described above.

Either one of the control valves 70 and 71 may be omitted.

``Effect of the invention'' As explained above, when using the device of the present invention,
The piping system for replenishing liquid raw materials from the auxiliary raw material container into the main raw material container includes gas blowing pipes, raw material supply pipes,
Because the piping is organically configured with atmospheric communication piping and auxiliary piping, there is no residual liquid in the raw material replenishment pipe after replenishing the raw material, and liquid raw material can always be accurately replenished from the auxiliary raw material container to the main raw material container. In addition, the liquid raw material remaining in the raw material supply pipe can be quickly disposed of, and the overall piping system can be constructed simply and inexpensively using the above-mentioned pipes.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing one embodiment of the raw material replenishing device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing another embodiment of the same. 31...Main raw material container, 61...Auxiliary raw material container,
62... Liquid phase part of the auxiliary raw material container, 63... Gas phase part of the auxiliary raw material container, 64... Gas blowing pipe, 65...
Raw material supply pipes, 65a, 65c...Vertical pipe portion of raw material supply pipe, 65b...Horizontal pipe part of raw material supply pipe, 66...
Atmospheric communication piping, 67...Auxiliary piping, 68-73
...control valve.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A device that replenishes liquid raw materials in an auxiliary raw material container through a piping system for replenishing raw materials into a main raw material container that vaporizes the liquid raw materials inside and takes out the vaporized raw materials to the outside. The auxiliary raw material container is equipped with a gas blowing pipe, a raw material supply pipe, an atmospheric communication pipe, and an auxiliary pipe, and the gas blowing pipe has a control valve in the pipe line and is inserted into the gas phase part of the auxiliary raw material container. The raw material replenishment pipe consists of a vertical pipe section at both ends with a control valve and a horizontal pipe section spanning both vertical pipe sections, with one vertical pipe section inside the auxiliary raw material container and the other vertical pipe section. The pipe portions are inserted into the main raw material containers, and the horizontal pipe portions have a slope that descends from the main raw material container side to the auxiliary raw material container side, and the above-mentioned atmosphere communication pipe is inserted into the main raw material container. The auxiliary pipe has a control valve in the pipe and is inserted into the gas phase part of the auxiliary raw material container, and the auxiliary pipe has a control valve in the pipe, one end of which is connected to the gas blowing pipe, and the other end of which is connected to the raw material supply pipe. Raw material replenishment equipment connected to the highest part of each.