Inventor's corner
12/01/2001
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Cleanroom remodeling
A working room is expanded by removing a wall and a general passageway. Any part of the floor in the working room that is not grated panel structure is remodeled as a perforated free access floor. The working room ceiling is fashioned as a frame structure from which a 600x1200-mm dust-collecting filter can be made detachable.
Patent number: 6,264,550
Date granted: July 24, 2001
Inventor: Yoshihiro Matsumoto, Nippon Steel Semiconductor Corp. (Chiba, Japan)
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Auxiliary device for filter exchange
The device allows for easy exchange of a cleanroom filter. It may include the following: a block plate that can be inserted through a filter frame that extends down toward the inside of a production line and is equipped with a filter; a support for the block plate bottom facing the inside wall of the filter frame that keeps a constant distance between them; and a tube with an air passage that is installed to adhere to the filter frame along the circumference of the support for sealing. Adjustable seal inserts (such as the corner-shaped inserts) may be provided for additional sealing. A pressure indicator may also be provided for monitoring correct tube inflation.
Patent number: 6,290,741
Date granted: September 18, 2001
Inventor: Craig Lopp, Samsung Austin Semiconductor L.P. (Austin, TX)
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Particle sensor
The particle sensor has a light beam with a long axis and an airflow tube that has an inlet end and a particle exit mouth. In one aspect of the invention, the cross-sectional area of the flow passage at the inlet end is greater than the cross-sectional area of the exit mouth.
Patent number: RE37,353
Date granted: September 4, 2001
Inventor: Gerhard Kreikebaum and David L. Chandler, Venturedyne Ltd. (Milwaukee, WI)
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Air filter test
A group of particles for air filter inspection solves problems caused by volatilization and scattering at the downstream side of an air filter in use. It enables air filter inspection with stability and reproducibility and may be produced using a comparatively inexpensive manufacturing device and methods.
The group of particles consists of aggregate particles having a size of no less than 0.1 micron. Each particle is constituted by solid primary particles having an average particle size of less than 55nm. The inspection method for an air filter has the following steps: producing the group of particles by atomizing and drying a suspension containing the solid primary particles; introducing the group of particles into the upstream side of the air filter; and detecting any of the group of particles that leaked out of the downstream side of the air filter with a particle detector.
Patent number: 6,269,681
Date granted: August 7, 2001
Inventor: Satoshi Hara and Toshio Kusumi, Daikin Industries Ltd. (Osaka-fu, Japan)
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Air filter induction assembly
The induction assembly for a high-efficiency air filter includes a primary intake plenum that directs air at high pressure to a primary throat aperture, which constricts the flow of the primary air, increasing its velocity. The primary throat aperture directs the high-velocity primary air into the momentum transfer section, creating a negative pressure region by the Bernoulli principle and drawing a substantially equal quantity of secondary air into the momentum transfer section.
After the primary and secondary gases mix in the momentum transfer section, the mixture moves to the static regain section. As it passes through this section, the velocity pressure of the gas mixture is converted into static pressure, which is sufficient to force the mixture through the discharge opening.
Patent number: 6,248,146
Date granted: June 19, 2001
Inventor: Herbert L. Willke, Jr. (Cambridge, MA)
Send your inventions
Information on the patents highlighted above was obtained through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Inventors who have been granted patents within the last six months for new cleanroom and contamination technology are encouraged to submit them to CleanRooms magazine for publication. Send a brief description of the invention along with a detailed drawing to Mark A. DeSorbo, associate editor, CleanRooms, 98 Spit Brook Road, Nashua, NH 03062, or e-mail at [email protected].