Gas flow device for a system for the radiation treatment of substrates

Abstract

A system for the radiation treatment of substrates, which includes at least one radiation source above the substrate holders in a chamber, which holders are to be equipped with substrates that are to be treated, and the chamber has means for maintaining a gas flow in the chamber, having at least one gas inlet and at least one gas outlet, characterized in that the at least one gas inlet is situated in the vicinity of the substrate holders so that gas flowing in by means of the at least one gas inlet first flows around the substrate holders before either exiting the chamber directly via the gas outlet or exiting after flowing around the at least one radiation source.

Claims

1. A system for the radiation treatment of substrates, comprising: at least one radiation source positioned above substrate holders in a chamber, which holders are to be equipped with substrates that are to be treated, and the chamber maintains a gas flow that is built up in the chamber and flows past the substrates after entering the chamber, and the gas flow does not previously flow past the at least one radiation source, the chamber having at least one gas inlet and at least one gas outlet, wherein the gas inlet and gas outlet include elements that have flow conduits that become narrower in a flow direction and then widen out again toward a downstream end, as a result of which during operation of the system, a laminar flow prevails and therefore deposits due to turbulence phenomena do not occur, and wherein the gas inlet and the gas outlet have lugs in an upper part, which hold two respective gas inlet and/or gas outlet devices together to maintain the laminar flow in a region in the upper part as well.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the elements that constitute the flow conduits are formed out of deformable plates that are composed of sheet metal.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein at least two of the elements constituting the flow conduits are held together in an upper region by rails, clamps, and/or caps, which enables assembly or disassembly.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the elements constituting the flow conduits are at least double-walled and the at least two walls are spaced apart from each other, thus forming a thermally insulating gap.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 shows a system for the radiation treatment of substrates according to the prior art.

(2) FIG. 2 shows a system according to the invention for the radiation treatment of substrates according to a first embodiment.

(3) FIG. 3 shows a system according to the invention for the radiation treatment of substrates according to a second embodiment.

(4) FIG. 4 shows a system according to the invention fix the radiation treatment of substrates according to a third embodiment.

(5) FIG. 5 schematically depicts the possible layout of a paint system that includes radiation treatment chambers according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(6) FIG. 2 shows a system according to the invention according to a first embodiment. The drawing shows a chamber 201 containing radiation sources 9, 9, 9 and substrates 11, 11 that are to be irradiated. A gas inlet 203 is provided in the chamber, at the bottom in the vicinity of the substrates 11, 11. According to this embodiment, the gas outlet 205 is provided in the vicinity of the chamber ceiling, which can be preceded by a ceiling chamber 207. During operation of the system, the gas now initially flows past the substrates 11, 11 after traveling into the chamber, before flowing around the radiation sources 9, 9, 9, through the optional ceiling chamber 207, and out via the gas outlet 205. In this way, the temperature of the gas flowing past the substrates 11, 11 is well-defined and the process can take place under predetermined, stable temperature conditions. Recesses 209 that can function as dust collectors are advantageously provided in the edge regions of the chamber.

(7) A second advantageous embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 3. In this embodiment, a chamber 301, which has radiation sources 9, 9, 9 that are situated above substrates 11, 11, is acted on with gas flows both via a first inlet 303 in the lower region of the chamber underneath the substrates 11, 11 and via a second inlet 305 in the upper region of the chamber above the radiation sources 9, 9, 9. Advantageously, at half the height of the chamber, outlets 311, 311 are provided, which are preferably positioned symmetrically. The two gas flows in this embodiment, as indicated by means of arrows in the drawing, meet at approximately half the vertical height, i.e. between the radiation sources 9, 9, 9 and substrates 11, 11, and exit the chamber interior via the laterally positioned outlets 311, 311. This particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention has the particular advantage that dust particles that are entrained in the gas flow tend to be transported to the edge of the chamber. If recesses 309 that can function as dust collectors are still provided there, then any dust that is present in the chamber, which is mainly transported toward the outlets 311, 311 but is nevertheless separated out from the gas flow, mainly collects in the dust collector. According to a particularly preferred embodiment, a removable receptacle 313 is respectively provided in each of the recesses 309 so that the dust collects in this receptacle and this dust can be simply discarded by taking the receptacle out and emptying it. Naturally, such a receptacle can also be used in other embodiments of the present invention.

(8) The present application has disclosed a system for the radiation treatment of substrates, which includes at least one radiation source above the substrate holders in a chamber, which holders are to be equipped with substrates that are to be treated, and the chamber has means for maintaining a gas flow in the chamber, having at least one gas inlet and at least one gas outlet, characterized in that the at least one gas inlet is situated in the vicinity of the substrate holders so that gas flowing in by means of the at least one gas inlet first flows around the substrate holders before either exiting the chamber directly via the gas outlet or exiting after flowing around the at least one radiation source.

(9) In the system, the gas outlet can be provided in the vicinity of the at least one radiation source so that the gas, after flowing, around the substrate holders, flows around the at least one radiation source before it exits the chamber via the gas outlet.

(10) The gas outlet can be provided at a height between the substrate holders and at least one radiation source.

(11) In the vicinity of the at least one radiation source, a second gas inlet can be provided so that gas flowing in via the second gas inlet first flows around the at least one radiation source before it meets the gas flowing against the substrate holders and flows together with it out of the chamber through the gas outlet.

(12) At the lower edge of the chamber, recesses can be provided so that the flow is reduced in the vicinity of the recesses and the recesses thus function as dust collectors.

(13) Removable receptacles can be provided in the recesses.

(14) A third particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 4. In this case, a chamber 401 with radiation sources 9, 9,9, which are situated above substrates 11, 11, is acted on with gas flows via both inlets 421, 421 in the lower region of the chamber, below the substrates 11, 11. The gas or gases flow(s) around the substrates 11, 11 and exit(s) the chamber partially via a gas outlet 423 in the lower region of the chamber and partially via a gas outlet 405 in the upper region of the chamber. According to the present embodiment, the gas inlet- and/or outlet devices 421, 421 and 423, respectively, include flow conduits that become narrower in one dimension in the flow direction and widen out again further in the flow direction so that an essentially laminar flow is present at least along the gas flow devices and as a result, deposits (e.g. of dust or dirt) do not accumulate due to turbulence phenomena. In a particularly preferred variant of this embodiment, the flow conduits are composed of deformable plate material such as sheet metal. In FIG. 4, these are each shown as having a double-walled design; the two walls are embodied as being spaced apart from each other by a gap S of 20 mm, for example. The gap produces a thermal insulation that is advantageous among other things because temperatures of 100? C. and more can easily occur in the chamber because of the hot air that is used for drying. The gas flows in through the round openings 21, 21 of the gas inlet devices 421, 421 and part of it flows out through the round openings 23 of the gas outlet devices 423.

(15) According to a preferred embodiment of the third variant, the individual gas flow devices have lugs in the upper part, which make it possible to hold two respective gas flow devices together, for example by means of a clamp rail or by means of caps 30, 30, making it possible, for example, to maintain the laminar flow in this region as well.

(16) In particular, the present invention discloses a system for the radiation treatment 401 of substrates, which has at least one radiation source 9, 9,9 in a chamber that is situated above the substrate, holders 11, 11 that are to be equipped with substrates that are to be treated and the chamber has means for maintaining a gas flow in the chamber, with a gas flow device having at least one gas inlet 421, 421 and at least one gas outlet 423, 405, where the gas flow device is situated in the region below the substrate holder (11, 11) and is embodied so that the gas inlet 421, 421 and gas outlet 423, 405 include elements that have flow conduits that become narrower in the flow direction and then widen out again toward the downstream end, as a result of which during operation of the system, a laminar flow essentially prevails at least in the gas flow device and therefore deposits due to turbulence phenomena do not occur.

(17) Preferably, the elements of the system for radiation treatment 401 that constitute the flow conduits are formed out of deformable plates that are preferably composed of sheet metal.

(18) Preferably, at least two of the elements constituting the flow conduits are held together in the upper region by means of rails, clamps, and/or caps 30, 30, which enables a simple assembly or disassembly.

(19) Preferably, the elements constituting the flow conduits are at least double-walled and the at least two walls are spaced apart from each other, thus forming a thermally insulating gap S.