REMOTE CONTROL OF A GAS-DISTRIBUTION FACILITY

Abstract

A gas distribution installation including a housing designed to receive at least one gas cylinder and having a gas input opening and a gas output opening; a system of gas ducts arranged in the housing to which the at least one gas cylinder is connected; a gas distribution system linked to the output opening allowing an equipment item to be supplied, and at least one communication port and a programmable logic controller, the logic controller being provided with a processor capable of processing data originating at least partly from a portable data storage and processing system distinct from the installation and wherein the data originating at least partly from a portable data storage and processing system distinct from the installation are used to manage control and/or maintenance parameters of the gas distribution system.

Claims

1-8. (canceled)

9. A gas distribution installation comprising: i. a housing configured to receive at least one gas cylinder and having a gas input opening and a gas output opening; ii. a system of gas ducts arranged in the housing to which the at least one gas cylinder is connected; iii. a gas distribution system linked to the output opening allowing an equipment item to be supplied, further comprising at least one communication port and a programmable logic controller, the logic controller being provided with a processor capable of processing data originating at least partly from a portable data storage and processing system distinct from the installation and wherein the data originating at least partly from a portable data storage and processing system distinct from the installation are used to manage control and/or maintenance parameters of the gas distribution system such as: the opening or the closing of valves included in the system of ducts, the launching of a bleed cycle, gas distribution, the management of the pressure and/or of the temperature of the gas distribution system, the heating of the at least one gas cylinder.

10. The installation of claim 1, wherein the communication port is selected from the group consisting of a wireless transceiver, an Ethernet port, a cellular radio transceiver, a WIFI transceiver and a Bluetooth transceiver.

11. The installation of claim 9, further comprising a human-machine interface connected to the logic controller.

12. The installation of claim 11, wherein the interface comprises a touchscreen whose size is less than or equal to twelve inches.

13. The installation of claim 9, wherein the housing contains two gas cylinders.

14. The installation of claim 9, wherein the logic controller is controlled by a portable data storage and processing system distinct from the gas installation chosen from among a tablet, an intelligent telephone such as a smartphone, a laptop computer.

15. A method for exchanging maintenance and/or control data of a specialty gas distribution system between at least one installation as defined in claim 9 and a portable data storage and processing system distinct from the installation chosen from among a tablet, an intelligent telephone such as a smartphone, a laptop computer, comprising the step of transmission of data by a wireless connection such as a WIFI or Bluetooth connection or a connection set up by Ethernet cable.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0036] Advantageously, said smartphone duplicates the views of the human-machine interface and is therefore used for everyday operations. The other devices can be used both for the everyday operations and for maintenance.

[0037] This system is associated with a human-machine interface (HMI) and with a programmable logic controller of small sizes installed on the cabinet. It therefore contains a series of parameters which no longer appear on the new HMI and a diagram of the method and of the instrumentation which make it possible both to control the components (open a valve, launch a gas bleed or distribution sequence), but also make it possible to access functions that cannot be accessed on the HMI, such as the parameters of the pressure and temperature sensors, as well as advanced option parameters, such as those of the AVP (All Vapor Phase) of the resistive heating of the cylinders when the gas distributed is in liquefied form. It is connected to the gas cabinet either through a wireless network (WIFI), or through a network (Ethernet) cable.

[0038] Since the same data storage and processing system can be used to control several gas cabinets, an identification code is associated with each of the gas cabinets located on the facility of the user to ensure that said data storage and processing system communicates only with the gas cabinet on which the user wants to intervene.

[0039] Moreover, and for safety reasons, a physical locking (using a key for example) of the communication between this data storage and processing system and the gas cabinet is put in place.

[0040] Another application of the use of an intelligent telephone (smartphone), of a tablet or of a laptop computer for controlling a gas cabinet, particularly during maintenance operations according to the present invention, can for example be the duplication of the mimic diagrams of the HMI (human-machine interface) and therefore the performance of the same operations that can be performed with the latter.

[0041] A gas cabinet implemented according to the present invention comprises a housing with a rear wall, sidewalls, a front wall, a bottom, and a ceiling. In the housing, two gas cylinders are provided which stand on the bottom and are fixed in the housing in a manner known from the prior art. The two gas cylinders are positioned in such a way that a minimal gap is present between the two and they contain gases supplied in a known way to a consumer. The gas cylinders can, optionally, each have a gas valve by which they are linked to a system of gas ducts. The system of gas ducts has two duct branches connected to a common output line. The two duct branches can be closed, for example, by a valve, respectively, in relation to the output line. During the operation of the gas cabinet, advantageously, just one of the two gas cylinders is being used. The duct branches of the other gas cylinder then being closed, for example, by the valve of the output line. The gas cabinet can also have a single gas cylinder or more than two gas cylinders.

[0042] Specialty gases should be understood to include all the gases generally used in the semiconductor industry. They can be inert, toxic, corrosive or pyrophoric gases. These specialty gases can be chosen from among: HF, WF6, BCl3, ClF3, DCS, 3MS, C4F6, C4F8O, C4F8, butane, SO2, Cl2, C3F8, NH3, propane, SF6, HBr, C2F6, CH3F, HCl, CHF3, N2O contained in a cylinder in liquefied form, or even from among F2, PH3, B2H6, NO, NF3, SiH4, CF4, CH4, CO contained in the cylinder in compressed form. Thus, depending on the nature of the gas to be distributed and its state, liquefied or compressed, the pressure inside the cylinder lies between 0 bar and 200 bar.

[0043] All the components used conform to the semiconductor industry standard.

[0044] It will be understood that many additional changes in the details, materials, steps and arrangement of parts, which have been herein described in order to explain the nature of the invention, may be made by those skilled in the art within the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the specific embodiments in the examples given above.