Movable platen cooling apparatus and movable platen cooling system

A movable platen cooling apparatus for cooling a movable platen that holds an object in a vacuum chamber, the cooling apparatus comprising:

• a compressor;
• a cold head fixed to the vacuum chamber and including a cooling part disposed in the vacuum chamber;
• a refrigerator gas supply line including a branching part, and supplying a refrigerant gas from the compressor to the cold head;
• a refrigerator gas exhaust line that including a merging part, and exhausting the refrigerant gas from the cold head to the compressor;
• a first gas inflow line branching off from the refrigerator gas supply line at the branching part to connect to a first movable platen flow path such that the refrigerant gas flows from the compressor into the movable platen, the first gas inflow line including a heat exchange part thermally coupled to the cooling part;
• a first gas outflow line connected to the first movable platen flow path such that the refrigerant gas flows out from the movable platen to the compressor, and merging with the refrigerator gas exhaust line at the merging part;
• a refrigerator gas flow-rate adjusting valve disposed in the refrigerator gas supply line;
• a first gas flow-rate adjusting valve disposed in the first gas inflow line;
• and
• a valve control unit for controlling at least one of the refrigerator gas flow-rate adjusting valve and the first gas flow-rate adjusting valve, based on status of any from among the movable platen, the compressor, and the cold head.

A movable platen cooling system comprising:

• a compressor;
• and
• a plurality of movable platen cooling sub-systems, each of the plurality of movable platen cooling sub-systems including
• a cold head fixed to the vacuum chamber and including a cooling part that is disposed in the vacuum chamber,
• a refrigerator gas supply line including a branching part, and supplying a refrigerant gas from the compressor to the cold head,
• a refrigerator gas exhaust line including a merging part, and exhausting the refrigerant gas from the cold head to the compressor,
• a first gas inflow line branching off from the refrigerator gas supply line at the branching part to connect to a first movable platen flow path such that the refrigerant gas flows from the compressor into a movable platen that holds an object in the vacuum chamber, the first gas inflow line including a heat exchange part thermally coupled to the cooling part,
• a first gas outflow line connected to the first movable platen flow path such that the refrigerant gas flows out from the movable platen to the compressor, and merging with the refrigerator gas exhaust line at the merging part,
• a second gas inflow line branching off from the refrigerator gas supply line at the branching part to connect to a second movable platen flow path such that the refrigerant gas flows from the compressor into the movable platen, the second gas inflow line being disposed to be thermally non-coupled with the cooling part, and
• a second gas outflow line connected to the second movable platen flow path such that the refrigerant gas flows out from the movable platen to the compressor, and merging with the refrigerator gas exhaust line at the merging part.