Flange for a vacuum apparatus

Abstract

Flange for a vacuum apparatus comprises a housing to be connected to the vacuum apparatus defining an opening wherein the opening has rectangular narrow shape. The flange further comprises a metal seal arranged around the opening to create a vacuum tight seal.

Claims

1. A vacuum apparatus comprising: a vacuum pump housing; a flange comprising: a first end configured to connect to a vessel; a second end connected to the vacuum pump housing; and an opening extending between the first end and the second end and having a width and a height at the second end wherein the ratio of the width to the height is larger than 4; a NEG element in the vacuum pump housing; an IGP element in the vacuum pump housing; characterized in that both the NEG element and the IGP element are positioned along the width of the opening, further wherein both the NEG element and the IGP element are directly attached to the flange such that no additional elements are placed between the NEG element and the vessel or between the IGP element and the vessel.

2. The flange according to claim 1, characterized in that the opening has an aspect ratio of width to height larger than 10.

3. The flange according to claim 1, characterized in that the flange comprises a cutting edge interacting with a metal seal to provide a leaktight seal with the vessel.

4. A vacuum apparatus comprising: a vacuum pump housing; a flange comprising: a first end configured to connect to a vessel; a second end connected to the vacuum pump housing; an opening from the first end to the second end, the opening having a width and height at the second end wherein the ratio of the width to the height is greater than four; and at least one sputtering pump element having a first dimension and a second dimension positioned within the pump housing, wherein the first dimension is greater than the second dimension, and the first dimension extends along the width of the opening and the second dimension extends along the height of the opening further wherein a vacuum pump is directly attached to the flange such that no additional elements are placed between the vacuum pump and the vessel.

5. The vacuum apparatus of claim 4 wherein the ratio of the width to the height is greater than 10.

6. The vacuum apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that the vessel is a tube having a diameter and extending along an axis of the tube and the first end of the flange is configured to connect to the tube such that the width of the opening at the second end is parallel to the axis of the tube.

7. A vacuum apparatus comprising: a vacuum pump; and a flange comprising: a first end connected to the vacuum pump; a second end configured to be connected to a tube having a diameter and extending along an axis; and an opening extending between the first end and the second end, the opening having a width and a height at the second end with the width being greater than the height and the second end configured to be connected to the tube such that the width of the opening is parallel to the axis of the tube wherein the vacuum pump is directly attached to the flange such that no additional elements are placed between the vacuum pump and the vessel and further wherein the ratio of the width to the height is larger than 4.

8. The vacuum apparatus of claim 7 wherein the vacuum pump comprises a NEG element positioned at the opening of the flange.

9. The vacuum apparatus of claim 7 wherein the vacuum pump comprises an IGP element positioned at the opening of the flange.

10. The vacuum apparatus of claim 7 wherein the vacuum pump comprises both a NEG element and an IGP element and both the NEG element and the IGP element are positioned at the opening of the flange.

11. The vacuum apparatus of claim 7 wherein the ratio of the width to the height is greater than 10.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) In the following the present invention is described in more detail with reference to the embodiments in the accompanied drawings.

(2) It is shown:

(3) FIG. 1 an embodiment of a flange in accordance to the present invention and

(4) FIG. 2 a vacuum apparatus in accordance to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(5) FIG. 1 shows a flange in accordance with the present invention comprising a housing 10 with a first end 12 and a second end 14, wherein the housing can be connected for example to a vessel or vacuum chamber with the first end 12 and can be connected for example to vacuum pump by the second end 14.

(6) In the housing 10 an opening 16 is provided extending from the first end 12 to the second end 14 wherein a gaseous medium, gas particles and molecules can be conveyed through the opening from the first end 12 (i.e. the vessel) to the second end 14 (i.e. the vacuum pump) or in the opposite direction. Thus, by the opening 16 a fluid communication between the vacuum pump and the vessel is provided.

(7) As shown in FIG. 1 the opening 16 has a rectangular and narrow shape. Thus, the widths W of the opening 16 is much larger than the height H of the opening 16. In particular, the ratio of width to height W/H is larger than 4 and preferably larger than 10. Thus, by this narrow and rectangular shape of the opening 16, a sufficient area is provided to increase or at least maintain the conductance while decreasing the spatial requirements of the flange. Due to the small space requirements of the flange, the vacuum pump connected to the flange can be placed in close proximity to the vessel enhancing the conductance and therefore also enhancing the pump performance of the connected vacuum pump.

(8) In order to provide vacuum tight connection to the flange, the housing 10 comprises a metal seal 18 arranged around the opening 16 preferably at the first end 12 and also the second end 14. Further, the housing 10 comprises a cutting edge incising the metal seal in order to provide the vacuum tight seal. Therein, the connected vacuum pump or vessel also comprises a cutting edge simultaneously incising the metal seal to provide a vacuum seal between the vessel or vacuum pump with the flange, respectively.

(9) FIG. 2 shows a vacuum apparatus in accordance with the present invention. The vacuum apparatus comprises a vessel 20 build as tube or pipe in particular build as beam pipe for an e-beam apparatus or any other kind of particle accelerator. A flange 22 is connected to the vessel 20 as described with respect to FIG. 1. Therein the flange 22 is arranged in an axial direction of the vessel 20, i.e. the width W of the flange 22 is arranged along the axial direction of the tube. Also, the height H of the flange is in correspondence to the diameter of the tube. With the second end 14 of the flange 22 an IGP element 24 and a NEG element 26 as vacuum pump 28 are connected, schematically indicated in FIG. 2. Therein, the area of the opening 16 of the flange 22 corresponds to the combined area of NEG element 26 and the IGP element 24. Thus, by the flange 22 the vacuum pump 28 can be placed in close proximity to the vessel 20 due to the inventive form of the flange 22. In particular, the conductance between the vessel 20 and the vacuum pump 28 is enhanced by the flange 22 since the gas particles and molecules need not to follow a complex and lengthy path to the vacuum pump 28 but can directly arrive at the vacuum pump 28 and being pumped by the IGP element 24 or the NEG element 26.

(10) Thus, by the present invention a compact way of connecting a vacuum pump to a vessel of a vacuum apparatus is provided reducing the space requirements of the vacuum pump and flange such that the vacuum pump can be placed close to the vessel enhancing the conductance between vessel and vacuum pump and thereby enhancing the pump performance.

(11) Although elements have been shown or described as separate embodiments above, portions of each embodiment may be combined with all or part of other embodiments described above.

(12) Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are described as example forms of implementing the claims.