JPH0784660B2 - Sealing equipment for vacuum processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a novel sealing device for a vacuum processing apparatus, and particularly to carrying in or introducing or processing an object to be processed such as a steel strip into the vacuum processing apparatus from atmospheric pressure. The present invention relates to a sealing device capable of reliably sealing a vacuum processing device when carrying out an object to be processed under a rear atmospheric pressure.

[Prior Art] In general, a vacuum processing apparatus is provided with a sealing device for sealing the inside of the apparatus when loading or unloading an object to be processed. FIG. 4 shows a vacuum processing apparatus 1 for continuously vacuum-depositing zinc on a strip steel, and a sealing apparatus 2 is provided on the carry-in side and the carry-out side of the vacuum processing apparatus 1. Therefore, the object to be processed 4 such as a strip of steel fed out from the uncoiler 3 in the atmosphere passes through the sealing device 2 and is carried into the vacuum processing chamber 63, and the object to be processed 4 in the vacuum processing chamber 63 is evaporated. Vacuum processing such as vapor deposition of more evaporated zinc is performed.
The vacuum-processed object 4 is transferred to the sealing device 2 from the outlet side.
And is taken out into the atmosphere and wound around the coiler 6.

Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the sealing device 2 of this kind is provided on the carrying-in side i and the carrying-out side o of the vacuum processing chamber 63, respectively, and a casing 7 for passing the object 4 to be processed, It was mainly composed of an upper roller 8 and a lower roller 9 that were provided in the casing 7 and clamped the upper and lower surfaces of the object to be processed 4 along the width direction thereof.

A plurality of upper rollers 8 and lower rollers 9 are provided in pairs at a predetermined interval along the longitudinal direction of the casing 7, and the inside of the casing 7 is along the longitudinal direction in the case of a zushi. Five seal chambers 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, 10e
It is divided into In addition, the lower roller 9 is a fixed frame
The roller conveyor is attached to the casing 11 through the bearing 12 and supports the lower surface of the object to be processed 4 and conveys it. On the other hand, the upper roller 8 is rotatably supported by the elevating frame 13 via a bearing 14.
As shown in FIG. 5, the elevating frame 13 is supported by a rod 16 which moves up and down from the upper part of the casing 7, has a gate shape, and is slidably fitted in a recess 60 of the casing 7. The gate-shaped lifting frame 13 has bearings 14 at both ends.
The upper roller 8 is rotatably supported on the lower roller 9.

The casing 7 is partitioned into an upper roller 8 and a lower roller 9 at a predetermined interval along the longitudinal direction thereof to form a plurality of divided seal chambers 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, 10e,
A vacuum pump system 15 including a valve 61 and a vacuum pump 62 is connected to each of the seal chambers. Reference numeral 65 is a guide roll for the object to be processed 4.

Therefore, the object to be treated 4 such as the strip steel fed from the uncoiler 3 is first guided into the sealing device 2 provided on the carry-in side i and introduced into the vacuum processing chamber 63. The object 4 to be processed introduced into the sealing device 2 is sandwiched by the upper roller 8 and the lower roller 9 at the upper and lower surfaces and sealed at this contact portion. The object to be processed 4 is the casing 7 of the sealing device 2.
While being clamped by the upper roller 8 is provided between the lower roller 9 in multiple stages in each seal chamber 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, 10e is 10 ^-2 Torr atmospheric pressure (760 Torr) by a vacuum pumping system 15
Is sequentially depressurized and exhausted (differential exhaust), vacuum processing chamber
Ingress of air into 63 is prevented. Reference numeral 64 is a vacuum pump for maintaining the pressure in the vacuum processing chamber 63 at 10 ^-2 Torr during the evaporation of zinc.

On the other hand, the vacuum-processed object 4 is similarly sealed by the sealing device 2 provided on the carry-out side o of the vacuum processing chamber 63 and carried out to the outside.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, in the conventional sealing device of the vacuum processing apparatus, as shown in FIG. An upper roller 8 provided so as to be vertically movable along the width direction and in contact with the upper surface of the workpiece 4.
And a lower roller 9 facing the upper roller 8 and contacting the lower surface of the object 4 to be processed, and the length of the roller is adjusted to the maximum width of the object 4 to be processed. Therefore, when the width of the workpiece 4 is small, a gap S1 is formed between the upper roller 8 and the lower roller 9 (the width of the steel strip is 9 mm to 1600 mm, and the thickness is 0.15 mm to 12.7 mm). Also roller
Clearances S1, S2, S3, S4 are required between the body of 8, 9 and the frames 11, 13 and the ends of the rollers 8, 9 and the sides of the frames 11, 13 and the casing 7 and the frame 13, Atmosphere enters into the seal chambers 10 through the gaps S, and it is necessary to exhaust each seal chamber 10 more than necessary. For this purpose, a plurality of rolls are arranged in the casing 7 so that a plurality of seal chambers 10a,
There was a problem that the vacuum pump system 15 had to be depressurized in order to form 10b, 10c, 10d, and 10e and to exhaust these seal chambers, and the capacity of the vacuum pump had to be increased. Further, as described above, the use of a large-capacity vacuum pump causes a problem that the running cost increases.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention was devised to effectively solve the problems in the conventional sealing device of the vacuum processing apparatus.

An object of the present invention is to provide a sealing device for a vacuum processing apparatus, which can improve the sealing performance as much as possible and can reduce the running cost.

[Summary of the Invention] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises an upper casing and a lower casing which are provided on the carry-in / out side of a vacuum processing apparatus and partition a passage opening before and after an object to be processed. Is provided with a partition wall that defines the upper portion of the front and rear passage openings, and side walls that are provided on the left and right sides.The lower casing defines the bottom portion of the front and rear passage openings and is in contact with the side wall. And a seal block that is housed in the upper casing so as to be able to move up and down and is appropriately divided according to the width of the object to be processed, and is in close contact with either one of the front and rear surfaces of the seal block. Is closely attached to the partition wall and one of the left and right seal blocks is closely attached to the side wall, and the lower end faces of the seal blocks are seated on the apron and the front and rear passage ports are The seal plate that seals the space and each seal box of the seal plate are moved up and down to raise the seal block corresponding to the width of the object to be processed, and the lower end surfaces of the left and right seal blocks are brought into close contact with the apron to be processed. The opening and closing drive means for opening and closing the passage opening of the article and the exhaust means for exhausting the inside of the seal box are formed, and the passage opening is divided by the seal plate along the width direction and the object to be processed is passed through. The height of the gap is adjusted so that the outer periphery of the object to be processed is surrounded and opened and closed.

[Embodiment] Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a sealing device 20 according to the present invention is provided on each of the carry-in side i and the carry-out side o of the vacuum processing apparatus 66. This sealing device 20 mainly comprises a seal box 22 having a passage port 21 for the object 4 to be treated such as a strip steel, and a proper division corresponding to the width of the object 4 provided at the passage port 21 of the seal box 22. A sealing plate 23 for opening and closing the passage port 21, which is made up of the sealed blocks 23a to 23e, an opening and closing driving means 24 for opening and closing the sealing blocks 23a to 23e of the sealing plate 23, and a deflection of the object 4 to be processed. Stop roll 68,
It is composed of an exhaust means 25 for exhausting the inside of the seal box 22.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the seal box 22 is composed of an upper casing 28 and a lower casing 29, and the upper casing 28 has partition walls 43 and 44.
Between the apron 67 of 9 and the partition walls 43 and 44, a passage port 21 (shown by a dotted line) through which the object 4 having the maximum width and the maximum thickness shown by the phantom line can pass is formed.

A seal plate 23 is provided at the passage port 21 of the seal box 22 so as to be openable and closable. As shown in FIG. 1, the sealing plate 23 is attached to an upper casing 28 that partitions the upper portion of the passage opening 21 having a substantially rectangular cross section so that the sealing plate 23 can move up and down, and a lower casing 29 that defines the bottom portion of the passage opening 21. It is configured to sit on the apron 67 and open and close the passage port 21.
Further, the seal plate 23 is disassembled into a plurality of pieces along the width direction of the passage opening 21, that is, the width direction of the object to be processed 4, and in the illustrated example, a central portion seal plate 23a and a central portion seal plate 23a are disposed. It is composed of side seal plates 23b and 23c located on both sides thereof and outer seal plates 23d and 23e located on the outermost side.

Further, in the illustrated example, the sealing plate 23 is divided so that at least three kinds of objects 4 having different widths can be passed while being sealed. For example, the central sealing plate 23a is raised and passed. When the mouth 21 is opened, and the side seal plates 23b and 23c are seated on the apron 67 and closed, the passage port which is divided and opened by the central seal plate 23a and the side seal plates 23b and 23c. The open cross-sectional area of 21 is configured so that the object 4 to be processed can pass therethrough sufficiently. Also, each seal plate 23
As shown in FIG. 3, the upper casing 28 has a predetermined thickness or length a along the transfer direction of the workpiece 4.
The opening / closing drive means 24 is sandwiched between the partition walls 43 and 44 hanging from the
Thus, it is supported so as to be vertically movable in the height direction.

Also, the seal plate 23 is a seal box as shown in FIG.
The seal box 22 is provided in multiple stages along the longitudinal direction of 22, that is, the transfer direction of the workpiece 4, and is configured to divide the seal box 22 into a plurality. Before and after the seal plate 23, steady rest rolls 68 for holding the object to be processed 4 are arranged.
To prevent contact with the seal plate 23 and the apron 67 (there is no sealing action).

Further, each seal plate 23a, 23b, 23c, 23d, 23e is provided with an opening / closing drive means 24 for opening / closing the passage port 21. The opening / closing drive means 24 includes a stepping motor 30 provided on the seal box 22 and a rod 32 that engages with a rotary drive shaft 31 that is rotationally driven by the stepping motor 30 to move the seal plates 23a ... It is mainly composed.

A rotary drive shaft 31 is connected to the stepping motor 30 via a coupling 33, and the rotary drive shaft 31 is supported by a bearing member 34 provided on the seal box 22.

Further, the rotary drive shaft 31 has a third portion depending on the seal plates 23a.
A gear 36 having an electromagnetic clutch 35 therein is attached as shown in the figure. These gears 36 have respective sealing plates 23
The rods 32 attached to a ... mesh with each other, and the rotation of the gear 36 causes the rods 32 to move up and down.
That is, the rack 32 is engraved along the longitudinal direction of the rod 32 so as to mesh with the gear 36.

As shown in FIG. 3, the rod 32 is inserted into the seal box 22 through an insertion hole 38 provided in the upper casing 28, and a rack is provided on the upper portion exposed to the outside of the seal box 22.
37 is engraved and the lower part has a T-shaped engaging part
39 is provided, and the engagement portion 39 is connected by engaging with the groove 40 provided in the seal plate 23.

Further, a spring 41 for urging the seal plate 23 in the closing direction is provided on the outer periphery of the rod 32 between the seal plate 23 and the upper casing 28.

Further, the groove 40 is formed in the width direction of each seal plate 23 ...
The seal plates 23, which are formed along the width direction of the groove 32, engage with the lower end of the rod 32 and are configured to be movable and adjusted in the width direction of the passage port 21 along the longitudinal direction of the groove 40. .

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a spring 42 is interposed between the side wall 51 of the seal box 22 and the outermost seal plate 23d located on the outermost side, and the seal plate 23d is provided on the opposite side wall 51. It is configured to press in the direction of.

Further, 69 is an O-ring for sealing.

As shown in FIG. 2, the exhaust means 25 is provided in each of the seal chambers 45 of the seal box 22 partitioned by the seal plate 23, and includes a vacuum pump 46 and an exhaust pipe system 47 connecting the seal chambers 45. It is mainly composed of. The exhaust pipe system 47 is provided with a valve 48 for controlling the flow rate.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described.

As shown in FIG. 2, a case will be described in which the width of the workpiece 4 such as a strip of steel transferred from the coiler 3 to the vacuum processing apparatus 66 corresponds to the seal plate 23a.

Only the electromagnetic clutch 35 of the seal plate 23a is turned on, and the electromagnetic clutch 35 of the other seal plates 23b ... Is turned off. At the same time, the stepping motor 30 is driven to rotate the rotary drive shaft 31 in accordance with the thickness of the object to be processed 4, and the electromagnetic clutch 35 which is turned on connects the gear 36 to move the rod 32 upward to move it to the center. The positioned seal plate 23a rises to open the passage port 21. Electromagnetic clutch turned off 35
By holding the rotary drive shaft 31 and the gear 36 separated from each other, the seal plates 23b, 23c, 23d and 23e at the side and outermost parts are urged in the closing direction by the spring 41 without being moved upward. This means that the seat 21 is closely seated on the apron 67 and the passage port 21 is partially closed. As shown in FIG. 3, the open seal plate 23a opens the passage port 21 and ascends to such an extent that it does not come into contact with the object 4 to be processed passing therethrough to form a minimum gap.

In this way, the seal plate 23 provided along the longitudinal direction of the seal box 22 opens the passage port 21 in accordance with the width and thickness of the workpiece 4.

The inside of the seal chamber 45 partitioned by each seal plate 23 is depressurized to a predetermined pressure by the exhaust means 25 and held, so that the outside air is prevented from flowing into the vacuum processing chamber 63. As the seal chamber 45 is maintained at a reduced pressure or a low pressure, the seal plate 23 is pressed against the partition wall 44 due to the pressure difference between the partition wall 44 and the partition wall 44 as shown in FIG.

In addition, each seal plate 23a, 23b, 23c, 23d, 23e is a spring 42
As a result, since the one side wall 41 is pressed and sealed, the outside air does not enter from the joint portion of each seal plate 23. That is, the gap S caused by the object to be processed 4 is the first
As shown in the figure, it can be set to the minimum required for the workpiece 4 to pass through the passage port 21, for example, about 0.2 mm.

In addition, when processing an object 4 having an intermediate width, a sealing plate is used.
It suffices to open 23a, 23b, 23c and allow the object 4 to be processed to pass through the passage opening 21 defined by these seal plates 23a, 23b, 23c. Further, if all the seal plates 23 are opened, the object 4 having the maximum width can be passed.

Since the stepping motor 30 is used as the drive source of the opening / closing drive means 24 for opening and closing the seal plate 23, the positioning can be performed with high accuracy, and therefore the seal can be changed according to the change in the thickness of the workpiece 4. The upward movement or opening of the plate 23 can be accurately controlled, and an appropriate amount of gap can be secured between the plate 23 and the object 4 to be processed passing through the passage port 21. Further, since the rotation angle of the stepping motor 30 can be controlled arbitrarily and with high precision by the number of input pulses, open loop control that does not require a limit switch can be performed.

In this way, even if the thickness and width of the object to be processed 4 change, the gap created thereby can be kept to a minimum, so that the sealing effect is increased, and as shown in FIG. A vacuum pump for reducing the number of stages of the seal plate 23 and the seal chamber 45 and exhausting the inside of the seal chamber 45.
The exhaust means 25 such as 46 can be reduced.

The seal plate 23 and the rod 32 are engaged with each other by the T-shaped engagement portion 39 and the groove 40, and the seal plate 23 is configured to be movable in the width direction. When the object 4 is processed, the sealing plate 23 is heated by the heat of the object 4 to be processed.
Even if thermal expansion occurs, the vertical force of the rod 32 is prevented from acting on the rod 32 so that the sealing plate 23 can be smoothly moved up and down, that is, the opening and closing operation.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the thickness a of the seal plate 23 is set to be large because the depth of the seal plate 23 is increased and the flow path is extended to increase the resistance of the flow of outside air. This is to reduce the amount of air.

In this embodiment, the case where the width of the object to be processed 4 is set to three kinds has been described, but when the width is adapted to various widths, the seal plate 23 that divides the passage port 21 according to the width is divided.
It can be achieved by increasing the number of sheets.

In the present embodiment, an example in which the present invention is adopted in the case of vacuum-treating a strip steel having a thickness of several millimeters has been described, but the apparatus according to the present invention has a minimum gap even if the plate thickness and width are changed. It can be maintained, and a sufficient effect can be exhibited even in a line for processing ordinary steel plates (thick plates, thin plates), plastic plates and the like. Further, in the case of a thick plate having high rigidity, the steady rest roll 68 may be omitted.

Further, in the present embodiment, the stepping motor is adopted as the drive source of the opening / closing drive means 24, but instead of this, a stepping cylinder and a rack / pinion or link mechanism may be combined, and instead of the electromagnetic clutch, Of course, an air clutch or a mechanical clutch may be used.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the evaporation source 5 is provided in the vacuum processing chamber 63 as in the conventional example, and the workpiece 4 guided and transferred from the sealing device into the vacuum processing chamber 63 is the same as the conventional one. Will be vapor-deposited.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the following excellent effects are exhibited.

(1) Since the sealing is performed by the sealing plate, the gap generated in the conventional pinch roll type sealing device can be made as small as possible, and the sealing can be sufficiently achieved.

(2) Further, the opening of the passage opening can be variably controlled according to the width direction of the object to be processed, the gap generated by the object to be processed can be kept to a minimum, and the sealing plate and the sealing chamber Since the number of stages can be reduced and the exhaust means can be reduced, the running cost can be reduced.

(3) Each seal plate is provided with an opening / closing drive means corresponding to each seal plate and can be driven arbitrarily. In particular, a clutch can be provided to open and close each seal plate by a single rotary drive shaft, and the drive means can be simplified.

(4) Since the springs that press the seal plates horizontally are provided, the gaps between the seal plates are eliminated and even when hot objects are processed, the gaps between the seal plates are kept at zero and smooth. Each seal plate can be opened and closed.

(5) Since the stepping motor is adopted as the drive source, the opening of the seal plate can be controlled with high accuracy according to the thickness of the object to be processed, and even if the plate thickness changes, the object to be processed and the seal plate can be changed. The gap between and can be kept to a minimum.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a transverse sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic side sectional view, FIG. 3 is an enlarged side sectional view of an essential part, and FIG. 4 is a schematic side sectional view showing a conventional device, FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part. In the figure, 20 is a sealing device, 21 is a passage port, 22 is a seal box, 23 is a seal plate, 24 is an opening / closing drive means, 25 is an exhaust means,
66 is a vacuum processing device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vacuum processing apparatus for introducing an object to be processed into the vacuum processing chamber from atmospheric pressure, performing vacuum processing, and then sending out to atmospheric pressure, the object being provided on the carry-in / out side of the vacuum processing apparatus. It consists of an upper casing and a lower casing that divide the front and rear passage openings.The upper casing is provided with a partition wall that divides the upper portion of the front and rear passage openings. In the casing,
A seal box having an apron that partitions the bottom of the front and rear passage openings and is in contact with the side wall, is housed in the upper casing so as to be able to move up and down, and is appropriately divided according to the width of the object to be processed and closely contacted. It consists of a seal block, one of the front and rear surfaces of the seal block is in close contact with the partition wall, one of the left and right seal blocks is in close contact with the side wall, and the lower end surface of each seal seats on the apron. The seal plate that seals between the passage openings of the above and each seal box of the seal plate is moved up and down,
Opening and closing drive means for raising and lowering the seal block corresponding to the width of the object to be processed and bringing the lower end surfaces of the left and right seal blocks into close contact with the apron to open and close the passage opening of the object to be processed, and exhausting the inside of the seal box. A vacuum processing device sealing device, comprising: