JP2002228220A - Clean room - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide a clean room having a structure that can easily control cleanliness. In place of a conventional clean room capable of flowing an airflow from above into a management space, a filter disposed at the top, a wall surrounding the periphery of the management space, and a partition plate having a plurality of openings are provided. The partition space partitions the management space so that the airflow is divided into an upstream side and a downstream side.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a clean room. More specifically, the present invention relates to a clean room characterized by a structure for flowing gas.

[0002]

[Prior Art] Electronics industry, precision machinery industry, pharmaceutical industry,
In the food industry or medical facilities, clean rooms are used. A clean room is a device that manages cleanliness and manages a limited space (hereinafter, referred to as a management space). The clean room includes a clean room, a clean booth, and a clean bench in a narrow sense.
Here, the clean room in a narrow sense refers to a clean room in which the entire room is a management space. The clean room manages, for example, airborne microparticles and airborne microorganisms in the air in the controlled space to be below a specified cleanliness level, and manages environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, and pressure as necessary. . Clean rooms include a "one-way flow" type and a "non-one-way flow" type. “One-way flow” refers to a gas flow having parallel streamlines and flowing in one direction at a constant flow rate. On the other hand, “non-unidirectional flow” refers to a turbulent flow whose direction is not determined.

[0003] The one-way flow type clean room is adopted to obtain a high-purity management space, and the diffusion of contamination is suppressed by a turbulent pushing flow due to a one-way gas flow.
This device replaces the management space with clean gas. 0.2m / s to 0.4m / s of clean air from the entire filter ceiling
The air is blown out at the wind speed and the air is sucked from the entire surface of the perforated floor.
There are a vertical flow (down flow) type and a horizontal flow (horizontal flow) type.

[0004] The clean booth is a simple one-way flow type clean room of a vertical blowing type. This is a clean room with one or more blowers and a HEPA filter or a ULPA filter, and is surrounded by a plastic curtain or a simple panel. The clean air is made to flow in one direction, and is blown from the gap between the curtain or panel and the floor to create a clean space. Clean booths are used to maintain only the required management space at a predetermined cleanliness level, and when creating a clean management space in a part of a general room or a higher cleanness management space in a part of a clean room Used in case.

[0005] A clean bench is a work bench formed so that gas controlled to a specified cleanliness level flows directly to a work object. A device that has a built-in blower and HEPA filter or ULPA filter to create a local clean space on a workbench. There are a vertical flow type and a horizontal flow type.

Hereinafter, the structure of a conventional clean room will be described. First, the structure of the one-way flow clean room will be described. FIG. 6 is a front sectional view of a conventional one-way flow type clean room in a narrow sense. One-way flow clean room 20
Defines a room surrounded by a ceiling 25, a wall 22, and a floor 26 as a management space. The one-way flow clean room 20 includes a filter 21, a wall 22, a floor plate 23, and a blower 24. The filter 21 includes a plurality of filters and is provided on the ceiling 25. The wall 22 surrounds the periphery of the management space and doubles as a wall of the room. The floorboard 23 is a grating floor and is laid on the floor 26. The blower 24 is installed so as to suck air from under the floor and blow air from the filter 21 into the management space.

The operation of the conventional clean room will be described.
The air in the management space in the clean room 20 is blown by the blower 24.
Is sucked in through the grating plate 23 of the floor 26. The air passes through the blower 24, the filter 21 of the ceiling 25, and flows down from the ceiling 25 to the management space. The air flows in one direction, descends in the management space, and reaches the grating plate 23 of the floor 26.

Next, the structure of the clean booth 30 will be described. FIG. 7 is a front view and a side view of a conventional clean booth. The clean booth 30 is on a floor 36, and a space surrounded by the ceiling 35, the wall 32, and the floor 36 is a management space. The clean booth 30 includes a filter 31, a wall 32, a blower 34, a pre-filter 37, and a frame 33.
The filter 31 includes a plurality of filters, and is provided on the ceiling 35 of the clean booth 30. Wall 32 is generally
It is a curtain or a simple panel, and is attached to the frame 33 so as to surround the periphery of the management space. Blower 34
Is installed so that air is sucked in from the outside via the pre-filter 37 and air is blown out from the filter 31 into the management space.

The operation of the clean booth 30 will be described. External air is sucked into the blower 34 via the pre-filter 37, and flows down from the ceiling 35 to the management space via the filter 31. The air flows in one direction, descends in the management space, and blows out from the gap between the walls 32 or the gap between the floor 36 and the wall 32 to the outside.

Next, the conventional clean bench 40,
The structure of 50 will be described. FIG. 8 is a side sectional view of the conventional clean benches 40 and 50. Clean bench 40,
Reference numeral 50 designates a work area inside the clean bench as a management space, and is mounted on floors 46 and 56. Clean bench 40,
50 includes filters 41 and 51, walls 42 and 52, pre-filters 47 and 57, blowers 44 and 54, and floor plates 43 and 53. The filters 41 and 51 are the clean bench 4
It is provided at the top or side of 0,50. Walls 42, 52
Is a simple panel that surrounds the management space and one side can be opened for work. Prefilter 4
Reference numerals 7 and 57 are provided on lower sides of the clean benches 40 and 50. Blowers 44 and 54 are pre-filters 47 and
The air in the management space is sucked in from the filter 57 and the filters 41 and 5 are sucked.
1 is installed so as to blow air into the management space. Reference numerals 48 and 58 denote work tables.

The operation of the clean benches 40 and 50 will be described. The air in the management space is sucked by the blowers 44 and 54 via the pre-filters 47 and 57. The air passes through the blowers 44 and 54 and passes through the ceiling 45 or the side 59.
, And blows out to the management space. The air becomes a one-way flow, descends in the management space, and reaches the pre-filters 47 and 57.

[0012]

As described above, in a conventional clean room, gas (for example, air) passing through an upper filter descends as an air flow (for example, one-way flow). In order to maintain the state of gas flowing into the management space in a desired state (for example, a one-way flow state), the clean room has a plurality of filter units spread over the top, and the height of the management space is set to a predetermined height or more. There is a need to. Therefore, the overall height of the clean room is increased, and many expensive filter units have to be used. That is, when a clean room in which the number of filter units is reduced or the height of the management space is reduced is manufactured and used, a large turbulence occurs in the one-way flow of the gas flowing through the management space. In particular, vortices and stagnation occur at the corners of the ceiling, causing the suspended fine particles floating downstream to be rolled up or retained. Therefore, in the conventional clean room, in order to maintain the predetermined cleanliness, there is a problem that a plurality of filter units must be provided on the ceiling and the height of the clean room must be equal to or longer than a predetermined length. Further, in a clean booth or a clean room arranged in an existing clean room, there is a problem that a detailed study is required to manage a predetermined cleanliness because the height is already limited.

The present invention has been devised in view of the above-described problems, and aims to provide a clean room having a structure in which cleanness can be easily managed, instead of a conventional clean room.

[0014]

In order to achieve the above object, a clean room according to the present invention for flowing an air flow from above into a management space comprises a filter arranged above, a wall surrounding the management space, and a plurality of walls. And a partition plate having an opening, and the partition plate partitions the management space so that the airflow is divided into an upstream side and a downstream side.

According to the configuration of the present invention, since the filter is disposed at the upper portion, the air stream cleaned by the filter can flow from the upper portion to the management space. Since the wall surrounds the periphery of the management space, it is possible to prevent the gas flowing from the outside into the management space from being mixed with the gas. Since the management space is partitioned by the partition plate having a plurality of openings so as to divide the airflow into the upstream side and the downstream side, a differential pressure can be generated between the upstream side of the airflow and the downstream side of the airflow.

Further, the clean room according to the present invention comprises:
The openings were uniformly arranged on the entire surface of the partition plate. According to the configuration of the present invention, since the openings provided in the partition plate are uniformly arranged on the entire surface of the partition plate, the differential pressure generated at an arbitrary position of the partition plate is uniformly applied on the entire surface of the partition plate. can do.

Further, the clean room according to the present invention comprises:
The aperture ratio of the partition plate was 60% or less. Here, the opening ratio is a percentage of the sum of the areas of the plurality of openings per unit area of the partition plate. According to the configuration of the present invention, since the aperture ratio of the partition plate is 60% or less, a sufficient differential pressure can be generated.

Still further, in the clean room according to the present invention, the partition plate is made of a conductive material.
According to the configuration of the present invention, since the partition plate is made of a conductive material, an arbitrary potential at the partition plate can be made uniform over the entire surface of the partition plate.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In each of the drawings, common portions are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

An outline of the first embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In the first embodiment, the present invention is applied to a clean room in a narrow sense. FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of the first embodiment of the present invention. The clean room 60 in a narrow sense defines a room surrounded by a ceiling 65, a wall 62, and a floor 66 as a management space. The clean room 60 in the narrow sense includes the filter 6
1, a wall 62, a floor plate 63, a blower 64, and a partition plate 1. A filter 61 is provided on the ceiling 25. Wall 62
However, it surrounds the management space and doubles as the wall of the room. The floor plate 63 is, for example, a grating floor, and is laid on the floor 66. The blower 64 is installed so as to suck air from under the floor plate 63 and blow air downward from the filter 61. The partition plate 1 is a plate having a plurality of openings, and horizontally partitions the management space below the filter. For convenience of explanation, the upper management space is referred to as a first management space, and the lower management space is referred to as a second management space.

The partition plate 1 is a plate having a plurality of openings, and for example, a punching metal is selected. Further, it is preferable that the thickness of the partition plate 1 is sufficiently smaller than the size of the opening. Further, it is preferable that the openings of the partition plate 1 are arranged uniformly over the entire surface of the partition plate 1. The opening ratio of the openings of the partition plate 1 may be such that a slight differential pressure is generated in the airflow passing through the partition plate, and is 60%.
It is sufficient if it is below, and preferably about 60% to 30%. The partition plate is preferably a plate made of a conductive material, for example, a stainless steel plate, an aluminum plate, a conductive plastic plate, a plate coated with a conductive plastic, or the like. Further, the partition plate 1 is preferably grounded to the entire clean room by mounting bolts or bonding wires. Hereinafter, the description of the partition plate is the same, and thus will be omitted.

The operation of the clean room 60 in a narrow sense will be described. The air in the management space in the clean room is
Is sucked through the floor plate 63. The air passes through the blower 64, the filter 61 on the ceiling, and the ceiling 65.
From the first management space. The airflow passes through the partition plate and descends below the management space. The air flows in one direction, descends in the second management space, and reaches the grating plate 63 on the floor 66. A small pressure difference occurs between the first management space and the second management space. Therefore, the air that has entered the second management space through the partition plate 1 flows downward in one direction.

Next, an outline of the second embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In the second embodiment, the present invention is applied to a clean booth. FIG. 2 is a front sectional view of the second embodiment of the present invention. The clean booth 70 has a floor 76
And a space surrounded by the ceiling 75, the wall 72, and the floor 76 is defined as a management space. The clean bench 70 includes a filter 71, a wall 72, a frame 73, a blower 74, a pre-filter 77, and the partition plate 1. The frame 73 is, for example, a structure made of stainless steel or aluminum pillars arranged on the sides of the cube. A ceiling 75 is at the top of the structure. A filter 71 is provided on the ceiling 75. The wall 72 is, for example, a curtain or a simple panel, and is attached to the frame 73 so as to surround the management space. The floor board 76 is, for example, a floor of a clean room in a narrow sense. The blower 74 is installed so as to suck in external air via the pre-filter 77 and blow air downward from the filter 71. The partition plate 1 is a plate having a plurality of openings, and horizontally partitions the management space below the filter. For convenience of explanation, the upper management space is referred to as a first management space, and the lower management space is referred to as a second management space. Note that the wall 72 preferably surrounds the periphery of the first management space without any gap.

The operation of the clean booth 70 will be described. Air outside the clean booth 70 is sucked in by the blower 74 via the pre-filter 77. The air is
After passing through the filter 71 on the ceiling, the air flows down from the ceiling 75 to the first management space. The airflow passes through the partition plate 1 and flows down below the management space. The air flows in one direction, descends through the second management space, and reaches the floor 76. The air is on the wall 7
It blows out from the seam of two or the seam of the wall 72 and the floor 76 to the outside. A small pressure difference occurs between the first management space and the second management space. Therefore, the air that has entered the second management space through the partition plate 1 flows downward in one direction.

Next, an outline of a third embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In the third embodiment, the present invention is applied to a clean bench. FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of a third embodiment of the present invention. The clean bench 80 has a ceiling 8
The space surrounded by 5, the wall 82, and the bottom plate 83 is a management space. The clean bench 80 includes a filter 81 and a wall 82.
, Blower 84, pre-filter 87, partition plate 1 and workbench 8
8 is provided. A ceiling 85 is above the clean bench 80. A filter 81 is provided on the ceiling 85.
The wall 82 is a simple panel, surrounds the periphery of the management space, and one surface thereof can be opened. The bottom plate 83 is the bottom of the clean bench 80. The blower 84 is installed so as to suck air in the management space via the pre-filter 87 and blow air downward from the filter 81. The room that houses the blower 84 and the pre-filter 87
It is not sealed and can exchange air with outside air. The partition plate 1 is a plate having a plurality of openings, and horizontally partitions the management space below the filter. For convenience of explanation, the upper management space is called a first management space, and the lower management space is called a second management space. A workbench 88 is located in the second management space.

The operation of the clean bench 80 will be described. The air in the second management space of the clean bench 80 is
4 is sucked through the pre-filter 87. The air passes through a ceiling filter 81 from a blower 84 and flows down from the ceiling 85 to the first management space. The air flow passes through the partition plate 1 and is below the management space. The air flows in one direction, descends in the second management space, and reaches the bottom plate 83. A small pressure difference occurs between the first management space and the second management space. Therefore, the air that has entered the second management space through the partition plate 1 flows in one direction and descends at least until the air passes through the worktable 48.

Next, the outline of the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In the fourth embodiment, the present invention is applied to a clean booth for a substrate (eg, liquid crystal substrate) transfer device. FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the fourth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a front sectional view of the fourth embodiment of the present invention. The substrate transfer device 108 is placed between the substrate receiving table 109 and the substrate processing device 110. The substrate transport device 109 transports the substrate placed on the substrate receiving table 109, and the substrate processing device 1
Insert into 10. Clean booth 100 for substrate transfer device
Is provided above the substrate transfer device 108. The clean booth 100 for a substrate transfer device is installed in a clean room (not shown).

A clean booth (hereinafter referred to as a clean booth) 100 for a substrate transfer apparatus includes a ceiling 105 and a wall 102.
A space surrounded by the upper surface of the substrate transfer device 108 is defined as a management space. The clean booth 100 includes a filter unit 120, a wall 102, a frame 103, and the partition plate 1.
The frame 103 is, for example, a structure made of stainless steel or aluminum pillars arranged on the sides of the cube, and is mounted on the transport device 108. The ceiling 105 is the frame 10
3 at the top. The filter unit 120 is formed by integrating the filter 101, the blower 104, and the pre-filter 107. The filter unit 120 is mounted on the ceiling 1
05. The wall 102 is, for example, a simple panel, surrounds the periphery of the management space, and is attached to the frame 103. On one surface of the wall 102 that faces the substrate receiving table 109 and on the other surface that faces the substrate processing apparatus 110, there is a hole 111 through which the transferred substrate passes. The filter unit 120 is installed so as to draw in external air via the pre-filter 107 and blow air downward from the filter 101. The partition plate 1 is a plate having a plurality of openings, and horizontally partitions the management space below the filter 101. For convenience of explanation, the upper management space is referred to as a first management space, and the lower management space is referred to as a second management space. The partition plate 1 is a stainless plate having a thickness of 1 mm to 3 mm, an aperture ratio of 60% to 30%, and circular holes of several mm in diameter uniformly arranged. Is selected.

The operation of the clean booth 100 for a substrate (eg, liquid crystal substrate) transfer device will be described. Clean booth 10
0 is blown out of the pre-filter 1 by the blower 104.
It is sucked in through 07. The air is blower 10
4, passes through the filter 101, and descends from the ceiling 105 to the first management space. The airflow passes through the partition plate 1 and enters the second management space. The air flows in one direction, descends through the second management space, and reaches the upper surface of the substrate transfer device 108. Air flows into the gaps between the walls 102 and the walls 102.
And blows out from the gap on the upper surface of the substrate transfer device 108. A small pressure difference occurs between the first management space and the second management space. Therefore, the air that has entered the second management space through the partition plate 1 flows downward in one direction.

When the clean room according to the above-described embodiment is used, a small pressure difference is generated at the partition plate, so that the air flow does not flow backward through the partition plate, and even if vortices or stagnation occurs in the first management space. In addition, the airflow in the second management space is not disturbed, and the maintenance and management of the cleanliness of the second management space are facilitated. Further, since the thickness of the partition plate 1 is sufficiently smaller than the opening size, the pressure difference generated in the partition plate can be small, and the floating fine particles are hardly adhered. Further, since the openings are uniformly arranged on the entire surface of the partition plate 1, the differential pressure at any place of the partition plate is uniform over the entire surface, and any air flow passing through the partition plate is The velocity at the location is uniform, and the flow downstream of the airflow is not disturbed. If the opening ratio of the opening of the partition plate 1 is 60% or less, a sufficient differential pressure is generated at the partition plate. When the opening ratio is 60% to 30%, the differential pressure at the partition plate does not become too large, and the power of the blower does not increase unnecessarily. In addition, since the partition plate is a plate made of a conductive material and is grounded in the entire clean room, there is no accumulation of electric charge on the partition plate and no adhesion of floating fine particles due to static electricity. Maintenance of the degree becomes easy. Therefore, maintenance and management of the cleanliness of the clean room is much easier than that of the clean room having the conventional structure, and the number of filter units can be reduced, and the height of the clean room can be reduced with sufficient consideration.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, and various changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. As an embodiment of the present invention, an example in which the present invention is applied to a one-way flow clean room has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be applied to a non-one-way flow clean room.

[0032]

As described above, the clean room according to the present invention in which the airflow flows from the upper part to the management space has the following effects depending on its configuration. The air stream cleaned by the filter can flow from the top to the management space, preventing gas from mixing with the air flow flowing into the management space from the outside, generating a differential pressure between the upstream side of the air flow and the downstream side of the air flow Therefore, even if a vortex or stagnation of the airflow occurs on the upstream side of the airflow, it does not affect the downstream of the airflow, and the deterioration of cleanliness on the downstream side can be prevented. Further, since the differential pressure generated at an arbitrary position of the partition plate can be made uniform over the entire surface of the partition plate, the influence on the downstream airflow can be made uniform over the entire surface of the partition plate. Further, since the differential pressure can be sufficiently generated, the upstream side of the airflow does not affect the downstream side of the airflow. Further, an arbitrary potential at the partition plate can be made uniform over the entire surface of the partition plate, and the influence of static electricity on the floating microparticles at the partition plate can be made uniform. Therefore, it is possible to provide a clean room having a structure that facilitates maintenance and management of cleanliness.

[0033]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front sectional view of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a front sectional view of a conventional clean room in a narrow sense.

FIG. 7 is a front view and a side view of a conventional clean booth.

FIG. 8 is a side sectional view of a conventional clean bench.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Partition plate 10 Air flow 11 Worker (dusting object) 12 Work object (for example, liquid crystal substrate) 20 Clean room in a narrow sense 21 Filter 22 Wall 23 Grating floor 24 Blower 25 Ceiling 26 Floor 30 Clean booth 31 Filter 32 Wall (curtain or) 33 simple frame) 33 frame 34 blower 35 ceiling 36 floor 37 pre-filter 40 clean bench 41 filter 42 wall 43 bottom plate 44 blower 45 ceiling 46 floor 47 pre-filter 48 work bench 50 clean bench 51 filter 52 wall 53 bottom plate 54 blower 55 ceiling 56 Floor 57 Pre-filter 58 Work table 59 Side 60 Clean room in a narrow sense 61 Filter 62 Wall 63 Grating floor 64 Blower 65 Ceiling 66 Floor 70 Clean booth 71 Filter 72 Wall (curtain or simple) Panel) 73 Frame 74 Blower 75 Ceiling 76 Floor 77 Pre-filter 80 Clean bench 81 Filter 82 Wall 83 Bottom plate 84 Blower 85 Ceiling 86 Floor 87 Pre-filter 88 Work table 100 Clean booth for substrate transfer device 101 Filter 102 Wall 103 Bottom plate 104 Blower 105 ceiling 106 floor 107 pre-filter 108 base transfer device 109 substrate receiving table 110 substrate processing device 111 hole 120 filter unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Hiroshi Suzuoka 1-19-10 Mori, Koto-ku, Tokyo Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries, Ltd. Koto Office (72) Inventor Hiroki Murakami 3-chome Toyoshu, Koto-ku, Tokyo No. 16 Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries, Ltd. Tokyo Engineering Center F term (reference) 3L058 BD02 BE02 BF01 BF03 BF06 BG01 BG03

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A clean room capable of flowing an airflow from above into a management space, comprising: a filter disposed at an upper portion; a wall surrounding the periphery of the management space; and a partition plate having a plurality of openings. A clean room, wherein a partition plate partitions the management space so that an airflow is divided into an upstream side and a downstream side. 2. The clean room according to claim 1, wherein the openings are uniformly arranged on the entire surface of the partition plate. 3. The clean room according to claim 1, wherein an aperture ratio of the partition plate is 60% or less. 4. The clean room according to claim 1, wherein said partition plate is made of a conductive material.