Heat exchanger with multistaged cooling
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorManoj A. Gajendra
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A heat exchanger for abating compounds produced in semiconductor processes is presented. When hot effluent flows into the heat exchanger, a coolant can be flowed to walls of a fluid heat exchanging surface within the heat exchanger. The heat exchanging surface can include a plurality of channel regions which creates a multi stage cross flow path for the hot effluent to flow down the heat exchanger. This flow path forces the hot effluent to hit the cold walls of the fluid heat exchanging surface, significantly cooling the effluent and preventing it from flowing directly into the vacuum pumps and causing heat damage. The heat exchanger can be created by sequentially depositing layers of thermally conductive material on surfaces using 3-D printing, creating a much smaller footprint and reducing costs.
Claims13
A heat exchanger configured to exchange heat with a flowing effluent, comprising:
- a coolant inlet;
- a coolant outlet;
- and
- a heat exchanging region disposed between the coolant inlet and the coolant outlet, the heat exchanging region comprising:
- an outer wall enclosing an internal region of the heat exchanger that has a central axis;
- a central channel region extending through the internal region, wherein a central channel is formed within the central channel region and is in fluid communication with the coolant inlet;
- and
- a plurality of radial channel regions that each have a radial channel extending therethrough, each radial channel region comprising a heat exchanging surface configured to cool the flowing effluent, wherein the radial channel of each of the radial channel regions is in fluid communication with the central channel of the central channel region and the coolant outlet, wherein an angle of a tangent formed at any point on the heat exchanging surface of each of the plurality of channel regions relative to the central axis is less than or equal to 70 degrees.
A method of forming a heat exchanger that is configured to exchange heat with a flowing fluid, comprising:
- forming a first mounting flange having a central opening, wherein forming the first mounting flange comprises sequentially depositing layers of a thermally conductive material on a first surface;
- forming a heat exchanging body on the first mounting flange, wherein:
- the heat exchanging body has a heat exchanging section that encloses a heat exchanging region that extends in a direction that is perpendicular to the first surface,
- forming the heat exchanging body comprises sequentially depositing layers of the thermally conductive material on a surface of the formed first mounting flange,
- the sequentially deposited layers disposed within the heat exchanging section each include at least a portion of an outer wall and at least a portion of an inner wall,
- the outer wall is configured to enclose an internal region of the heat exchanging body, and the internal region has a central axis that is substantially perpendicular to the first surface,
- a space is formed between the inner wall and the outer wall,
- a channel region is defined by the space formed between the inner wall and the outer wall, the channel region comprising at least one outer channel region, at least one central channel region, and a plurality of radial channel regions,
- at least a portion of the heat exchanging surface of the plurality of radial channel regions has an angle relative to the central axis, and
- an angle of a tangent relative to the central axis at any point is less than or equal to 70 degrees;
- and
- forming a second mounting flange on the heat exchanging body, wherein the second mounting flange comprises sequentially depositing layers of a thermally conductive material on the heat exchanging body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.