Sealing mechanism for sealing a vacuum chamber
AssigneeTeijin Seiki Co., Ltd.
InventorAkio Hashimoto
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A sealing mechanism comprises a support member forming part of the semiconductor producing apparatus which has a vacuum chamber, a rotation shaft rotatably received in the support member, and at least three seal rings axially spaced apart from each other between the support member and the rotation shaft to form a first fluid chamber close to the atmosphere and a second fluid chamber close to the vacuum chamber. The first fluid chamber is vacuumized to have a first pressure, and the second fluid chamber is also vacuumized to have a second pressure which is lower than the first pressure. The first and second fluid chambers work together to enhance the sealing performance of the sealing mechanism.
Claims13
A sealing mechanism for sealing a vacuum chamber, comprising:
- a first member having an outer surface in the form of a cylindrical shape and extending in the atmosphere and said vacuum chamber;
- a second member having said first member received therein with a gap and extending in said atmosphere and said vacuum chamber;
- a seal ring positioned in said gap between said first member and said second member to hermetically seal the axially inside thereof in said gap from said atmosphere;
- stop means for stopping said seal ring from moving toward said vacuum chamber with respect to said first member and said second member;
- and
- a bearing positioned in said gap between said first member and said second member axially outside of said seal ring to be in said atmosphere, said first member being rotatably received in said second member through said bearing;
- said seal ring comprising a retaining member formed with a groove opening toward said atmosphere, and a spring member tightly received in said groove and retained by said retaining member to resiliently radially bias said retaining member, and said stop means being constituted by a stop ring fastened selectively to said first member and said second member.
A sealing mechanism for sealing a vacuum chamber, comprising:
- a first member having an outer surface in the form of a cylindrical shape and extending in the atmosphere and said vacuum chamber;
- a second member having said first member received therein with a gap and extending in said atmosphere and said vacuum chamber,
- a seal ring positioned in said gap between said first member and said second member to hermetically seal the axially inside thereof in said gap from said atmosphere;
- and
- a bearing positioned in said gap between said first member and said second member axially outside of said seal ring to be in said atmosphere, said first member being rotatably received in said second member through said bearing,
- said seal ring comprising a retaining member formed with a groove opening toward said atmosphere and a spring member tightly received in said groove and retained by said retaining member to resiliently radially bias said retaining member,
- said sealing mechanism, further comprising:
- a third member having said second member received therein with an additional gap and extending in said atmosphere and said vacuum chamber;
- an additional seal ring positioned in said additional gap between said third member and said second member to hermetically seal the axially inside thereof in said additional gap from said atmosphere;
- and
- an additional bearing positioned in said gap between said third member and said second member axially outside of said additional seal ring to be in the atmosphere, said second member being rotatably received in said third member through said additional bearing,
- said additional seal ring comprising an additional retaining member formed with a groove opening toward said atmosphere, and an additional spring member tightly received in said groove and retained by said retaining member to resiliently radially bias said retaining member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.